larriga nub Cenuint.

FRANCE.—The debate on the electoral law was continued through the whole of last week.

Its fourth day, Friday, was distinguished by a speech from M. Thief% which his party consider one of his greatest Parliamentary effusiorrs. Lauding M. Baroche, who immediately preceded him with a dull defence of the measure, for courageously assuming the full responsibility of the bill, M. Thiers exclaimed, "Yes! the Government has placed itself at our head-- has taken the first place in a league for good ; and I can assert, that it

find in us faithful, devoted, and I dare affirm, intrepid soldiers. The bill has originated in an agreement of the several powers—it is that circum- stance which renders governmeut possible in free countries : we march in concord side by side. I have never been a convert to universal suffrage; if during the last two years I have resigned myself to many things, I have never been converted to any. We are convinced that the danger is immense, The bill is, to a certain extent, the offspring of the two late elections. Examine the motive of those two elections. I can understand that the candidate of the 10th March might have been chosen for himself ; but let there be no hypocrisy—was that so ? One fact is certain—that M. de Flotte fought in the days of June, not on the side of General Cavaignac, but on the other side of the barricades. An insurgent of June was selected, not in a spirit of conciliation : if conciliation had been required, why not select IL Clement Thomas, whose character we all esteem—who had devoted himself to the defence of the laws ; that would have been conciliation : but here the conciliation was to those who attacked society. At the second election all France was astounded. There were two candidates in presence—M. Dupont de l'Eure, who represented the Republican opinion ; and M. Eugene Sue, who represented ideas which we consider as subversive, and which were much more frankly declared at the electoral meetings than here. The first election was the apology of insurrection, the second the acceptance of So. cialism."

[M. Thiers was here interrupted by exclamations and rude noises, which called down rebukes from President Dupin. Individual disorder being re- pressed, a system of loud conversation and laughing was adopted by the So- cialist party on the benches of the Left. M. Thiers defied the interrupters, and launched a special attack on the Socialists, their policy and doctrine.] M. Thiers—" I have shown that the last two elections menaced the friends of society. In the electoral meetings, society and its eternal laws were ats tacked without shame ; but in this place very different language is used. That is falsehood and hypocrisy." Voices—" It is you who utter the falsehood."

M. Thiers--" You named the seventeen persons who prepared the bill ; yon accused them of hypocrisy, falsehood, and faction : but I say that the hypocrisy, falsehood, and faction, are yours, when in the tribuneyou dia. avow the abominable principles which at the meeting you support. I see three kinds of Socialism. There is one which is criminal, senseless, and impracticable—that is Communism, or the agrarian law : that cannot be even attempted. There is a second kind of Socialism, which is neither lees criminal nor less impracticable, but which may be commenced—that is uni- versal association. There is a third kind, which is innocent, which has but one danger—it has a double face: it promises much without, but does no- thing hero; it may, however, become the instrument of the two others. Credit is tolie placed within the reach of every workman, by state banks : salary is a tyranny, and is therefore to be done away with ; and thus all workmen being brought together, all shall be masters and specu- lators, and none shall be slaves. I am convinced that society .cannot be placed in certain hands without its perishing, because the one part wish for evil and the other cannot prevent. Should we fold our arms before such men ? To obtain the Republic and advance liberty, they have not hesitated to rebel against the laws of their country and tear up her con- stitution. We have been reproached with stopping before legal obstacles; asked why we hesitate before men who made a government in February without consulting France. (Murmurs on the Left, great applause on the Right.)' Whv do we hesitate, when the salvation of the country is at stake ? (Cries of " You dare not ."') We dare not !—you will see whether we dare not! Remember this expression, for it is a very serious one. (Sensation.) We imposed on ourselves the duty to remain faithful to the constitution: not that our adversaries have set us the example, but because we owed it to our party, which always respects established governments, and never seeks to destroy but to improve them." There had been urgent suggestions to effect ameliorations, overriding the constitution ' • but they had been rejected from loyalty to the spirit of the law. The guarantee of domicile is not contrary to the letter and it is in harmony with the spirit of the constitution. " If, in laying down the basis of the bill, we had taken for our guide the rolls of the National Guard, we should have excluded the citizens in towns where that force was restricted or dissolved. We therefore applied ourselves to the tax-list, which was to be paid by every one. By the means which we have adopted, nothing arbitrary can occur, for we do not impose a material but a moral presence. An outcry has been raised at the arbitrary state of dependence in which servauts and workmen will be placed : but why complain of us ? did we say that these classes should be electors ? If you think the master or the employer will respect the liberty of the workman or the servant as to the exercise of his right of voting, what reason is there to suppose that he will not be equally. just in granting the ne- cessary certificate for an incontestable fact? Besides, in mac of Telma., there is the Juge de Paix to Appeal to. But is it the poor man whom we have excluded ? No ; it is the vagabond—the vagabond who gains money without having any domicile, and who on leaving his work hastens to the wine-shop, where he spends what he has earned. These men, having no family, care nothing about a domicile. I look on them as the most danger- one portion of society. It is these men who merit a title always employed in history to imply contempt—the title of multitude.' I can very well imagine that certain men are unwilling to give up this instrument ; I can conceive that tyrants should put up with them, give them food, sometimes pun- iah them, always despise them. But for Republicans to seek out the man of t& multitude and defend them—oh, believe me, such persons are false

Republic•ms ! Examine history, and you will see that it is the vile multitude that has at all times betrayed and delivered up liberty. It gave it to esesar

for bread and the Circcnsian games ,• and after having allowed the Emperors

to take it, butchered them. It is this vile multitude that delivered up to the Medici the liberty of Florence—that in placid Holland murdered De Witt and Bayle—who applauded the execution of the Girondists, and afterwards rejoiced at the merited death of Robespierre. It is this multitude which, of being subjected to the great man who knew it well, in 1815 placed a cord round the neck of his statue to drag it through the mire." Amidst great general excitement, M. Napoleon Bonaparte here rose. The President repressed him ; but he rose again and again, and persisted with such energy that the President rebuked him severely, and, backed

by. the Assembly, pronounced a censure on him. M. Thiers was unwil- ling to add to the affliction of the Assembly by yielding place to one bear-

ing the illustrious name of Napoleon, but defending such opinion as M. Bonaparte professes. M. Bonaparte, obtaining leave to speak on the ques- tion of censure, admitted that he had been carried away by feeling; but wondered that so great an historian as M. Thiers had not known that it was the Royalists, and friends of the Cossacks, who tied a word to the great man's neck. He avowed his preference of the side of the conquered at Waterloo, to that of the conquerors. M. Thiers observed that there were "no conquered at Waterloo, only the vanquished." • M. Thiers having completed his dissection of the arguments against the measure, and his crimination of its opponents, concluded with a pro- vocative disclaimer- " The army is ready to do its duty—its chiefs are energetic and devoted— all is ready, if you do not persevere in a prudent course. Every preparation has been made. In that unfortunate society where the father sees the bread of his children torn from his hands beneath the threats of insurrection, may be heard these painful words-" Since blood is to be shed, it is as well first as last.' This expression, however, is not a provocation—it is a cry of de- spair, the cry of society at its last gasp ! It is the strongest accusation against those who have thrown it into such an awful situation. ' The speech of M. Thiers was the last of any length which was al- lowed by the overbearing majority. A number of amendments were moved, but none of them was supported at much length, and a brief reply to each was given by some member of the Committee of seventeen.' who drew up the bill : no other speaker was allowed either for or against. Such, say letters, was the programme which the leaders of the majority laid down, and which their party strictly followed. " La cloture " was invoked to cut short every attempt at developing the debate. The second article of the law, which imposes the domiciliary restriction, was passed on Monday; and so summarily had the amendments been disposed of, that this clause, which will disfranchise so .1kge a proportion of the consti- tuency, passed by mere rising and sitting, without any division.

PEttstas.—The wound inflicted on the King's arm by Sefeloge has proved more troublesome than was expected, but it has not threatened any serious consequences. The suppuration was of a character to make it doubtful whether some foreign body were, not still remaining in the tissues. At :firstthe King suffered' from feverish symptoms ; but these abated, and the last reports, down to the 27th, stated that he passed quiet nights and was going on favourably. The Berlin papers wage a heated contest on the question whether the attempt was of political complexion. There is no doubt that Sefeloge was two years ago discharged from the army as a lunatic, nor that he is still of weak mind ; but circumstances are said to be known which con- nect him and his attempt with Democratic clubs ; also he is said to have lately practised firing at a human mark, and to' have lurked for some weeks in the King's habitual drives, for the opportunity he at last seized.

PIEDMONT.—The trial of the Archbishop of Turin by a civil tribunal, in spite of his ecclesiastical protest, took place at Turin on the 23d of May. The court was the First Criminal Chanaber of the Court of Ap- peal; and a great concourse of distinguished persons, clerical and laical, attended. The tribunal consisted of eight Councillors and twelve - men of all opinions and ages. An empty arm-chair occupied e" centre centre of the hall. The President announced that Monsignor Franzoni; at present confined in the citadel, had refined to appear : he might be forced' to appear, or be judged in his absence. As a prisoner who refused to answer could throw no light on the case, the latter course was chosen. The charge against the Archbishop was then formally proved—a publi- cation of an address to his clergy stimulating them to disobey the laws of the state. Signor Vigiliani was appointed by the Court, as Monsignor Franzoni would appoint no one, to plead in defence. The Jury retired half an hour to deliberate, and found a verdict of " Guilty." The Atter- , nay-General demanded a punishment of imprisonment for six months and a fine of 1,000 francs ; which Signor Vigiliani opposed with some success ; for the Court awarded an imprisonment of one month and a line of 500 franca.

'UNITED STATES.—Tho American mail-steamer brings news from Halifax to the 17th, and from New York, by telegraph, to the 16th, of May.

In Congress, the Senate was debating Mr. Clay's compromise report. Mr. Clay had spoken with great ability and effect, and with apparent con- fidence that the report would be adopted; but subsequent speeches showed en extreme contrariety of opinion with regard to it, and a probability of a renewed and strenuous contest on the whole question.

The House of Representatives had taken into consideration the letter of Sir Henry Bulwer relative to opening the river St. Lawrence to American shipping for reciprocal concessions. No resolution is reported, but an unfriendly feeling to Sir Henry Bulwer showed itself in the debates.

Mr. Clayton has concluded a treaty with France, similar to the treaty with Great Britain, on the Nicaragua canal question. Accounts from the South state as positive, that another piratical expe- dition against Cuba had set out for a place of meeting out of the juris- diction of the United States. The force, estimated at some thousands Mixing, is commanded by General Quitman, who commanded in the Mexi- can war and was Governor of Mississippi, and " Seiler Lopez, the Cuba insurrectionist."

CANADA.—Lord Elgin had opened the Canadian Parliament at Toronto, with a speech recommending a " more numerous " constitution of the Assembly, the remodelling of the courts of judicature, " the abolition of capital punishment," and a cheap and uniform system of postage. He denounces annexation, and will mark with Royal displeasure any official partisanship with it. The harvest promised to he most abundant.