Jumu nut t ranntal.

friturr.—The policy of free trade so long foreshadowed in the speeches and acts of the Emperor is about to be carried out, so far as to bring France from the level of a Prohibitory up to that of a Protectionist power. On the 13th the Emperor presided at a Council of Ministers, and one of the Privy Council, and on Sunday the Itoniteur startled Europe by publishing the following letter

Palace of the Tuileries, Jan. 5,1860. "Monsieur le Ministre—Notwithstanding the uncertainty that still pre- vails on certain points of foreign policy, a pacific solution may confidently be foreseen. The moment has therefore arrived for occupying ourselves with the means of giving a great stimulus to the several branches of the na- tional wealth.

"I address to von with this object, the bases of a programme, several parts of which will 'lye to receive the approbation of the Chambers, and

upon which you will concert with your colleagues in order to prepare the measures best adapted to give agriculture, industry, and commerce a lively impulse. " The truth has been long proclaimed, that the means of exchange must be multiplied in order to render commerce flourishing ; that without com- petition industry remains stationary, and keeps up high prices, which are opposed to increase of consumption ; that without a prosperous industry to develop capital, agriculture itself remains in a state of infancy. There is a general connexion, then, in the successive development of the elements of public prosperity. But the essential question is to know within what limits the State ought to favour these severitl interests, and what order of prefer- ence it ought to grant to each of them.

" Therefore, before developing our foreign trade by the exchange of pro- duce, our agriculture must be improved and our industry freed froimi all the internal fetters that place it in a state of inferiority. At present, not only are our great undertakings impeded by a host of restrictive regulations, but even the welfare of those who labour is far from having attained the deve- lopment it has in a neighbouring country. It is, then, only a general sys- tem of good political economy that can, by creating national wealth, distri- bute competency among the working class. " Regarding agriculture, it must be made to participate in the benefits of banking institutions, to clear away forests situated in plains, to replant the mountains with trees, to lay out every year a considerable sum on great works of drainage, irrigation, and tillage. These works, by transforming waste lands into cultivated grounds, will enrich the communes without im- poverishing the State, which will get back its advances by the sale of a part of those lands restored to agriculture. " To encourage industrial production it is necessary to free from all duty the raw materials indispensable to industry, and to lend it, exceptionally and at a moderate per centage, as has been already done to agriculture for drainage, the capital that will assist it in perfecting its material. " One of the greatest services to be rendered to the country is to facilitate the carriage of materials absolutely required by agriculture and industry : to this end, the Minister of Public Works will cause to be made as promptly as possible ways of communication, canals, roads and railways, which will have for their especial object the conveyance of coal and manures to the spots where the needs of production demand them, and he will en- deavour to reduce the tariffs, whilst establishing a fair rivalry between the canals and the railways.

"The encouragement to commerce through the multiplication of the means of exchange will then come as the natural consequence of the pre- ceding measures. The gradual reduction of the tax upon provisions of general consumption will then be a necessity, as well as the substitution of protective duties for the prohibitive system, which limits our commercial relations.

" By these measures agriculture will find a market for its produce ; in- dustry, being released from its internal shackles, assisted by the Govern- ment, stimulated by competition, will contend advantageously with foreign products, and our trade, instead of languishing, will take a fresh spring. " Desirous before everything that order shall be maintained in our finances, this is how, without disturbing their equilibrium, these improve- ments may be obtained :

"The conclusion of peace has permitted the total amount of the loan not to be exhausted. A considerable balance remains disposable, which, joined to other resources, reaches about 160 millions. In demanding the authori- zation of the Corps Legislatif to apply this sum to great public works, and in dividing it into three annuities, there would be about 50 millions a year to add to the considerable sums already assigned annually to the budget.

" This extraordinary resource will facilitate for us not only the prompt completion of the railways, canals, navigable routes, roads, and harbours, but it will also enable us to repair our cathedrals, our churches, and wca thily to encourage the sciences, letters, and arts. "To compensate the loss that the Treasury will momentarily experience by the reduction of the duties on the raw materials and articles of general consumption as food, our budget offers the resource of the sinking-fund, which may be suspended until the public revenue, raised by the increase of trade, shall permit the fund in question to come into operation again. "Thus, to sum up :—Suppression of the duties on wool and cottons; gra- dual reduction on sugars and coffees ; improvement energetically carried out of the routes of communication ; reduction of charges on the canals, and consequently a general diminution of the prices of conveyance ; loans to agriculture and industry ; considerable works of public utility; suppression of prohibitions ; treaties of commerce with foreign Powers.

"Such are the general bases of the programme, to which I beg you to di- rect the attention of your colleagues, who will have to prepare without delay the projects of law destined to realize it. It will obtain, I am firmly con- vinced, the patriotic support of the Senate and the Corps Legislatif, both jealously desirous of inaugurating with me anew era of peace and of securing its benefits to France.

" Whereupon I pray God to have you in His holy keeping.

"‘ NAPOLEON." The programme embodied in this letter has been well received by the press. Lord Cowley returned to Paris on Tuesday and had a long interview with the Emperor. The rays says relations between France and Eng- land are daily becoming more intimate.

Report mentions a note from the Pope protesting against the scheme of the Emperor for the pacifiation of Italy.

M. Villemain has published a pamphlet in answer to The Tope and the Congress. It has had a circulation of 60,000 copies. The Opinion Nationale says that M. Thiers has also written a pamphlet, but that he does not mean 'ID publish it. " He contented himself with reading it to M. Duvergier de Hauranne, and the performance was immensely suc- cessful."

The affair of M. 011ivier, the advocate, has been heard before what is

called the Chamber of Correctional Appeals of the Imperial Court. This affair, it may be remembered, is an appeal of that gentleman against a decision of the Tribunal of Correctional Police to the effect that he should be suspended for three months from the exercise of his profession of advocate for having, as counsel for M. Vacherot, who was accused of seditious libel, said—" The public prosecutor has made an appeal to the most irritating passions, and that is a bad thing to do, and I am sorry he has done so ;" and for having refused to retract these words, though requested so to do by the tribunal. When the cue was called on M. Plaque, the Batonnier, and the members of the Council of the Order of Advocates appeared as counsel for M. 011ivier. The latter gentleman having answered the usual questions as to his name, age, and residence, one of the judges of the court read a report on the affair. M. Ploque then presented what are called "conclusions," which were a technical objection based on various reasons, to the effect that under the ordinance of the 20th of November, 1822, which regulates the profession of an advocate, it is not the Chamber of Correctional Appeals, but the whole Imperial Court, sitting in general assembly, that can entertain a case of violation of discipline by an advocate ; and that, consequently, the Chamber was altogether without jurisdiction to hear the appeal. M. Ploque supported this objection in a speech of great length, which the public prosecutor replied to. The Court declared the objection to be unfounded, and rejected it, ordering the case to be heard on the merits on the following Wednesday.

Since the 15th of August last, the day on which the Emperor granted

a full pardon for all previous offences of the press, twenty new warnings (avertissements) have been given, viz. :—One to the Gironde of Bordeaux, une to the Memorial de of Moulins, two to the U»irers of Paris, one to the Correspondant of Paris, one to the And de la Religion of Paris, two to the Union de P Nest of Angers, one to the Indvendant de rOu:st of Laval, one to the Conrrier du Dimanche of Paris, one to the Gazette de France of Paris, one to the ffemorial des Deer Sevres of Niort, one to the tOpinion Nationale of Paris, two to the France Centrale of Blois, one to the .Espirance de Nancy,:one to the Espirance du .Peaple at Nantes, two to the _Echo de la Fronti&re at Valenciennes, and one to the Journal des Villes et des Campagnes.

M. About has contributed an amusing and witty feuilleton to the Opinion Nationale on the Protestants of Alsace, one of a series showing the state and opinions of the country. In this he says- " I had every reason to suppose that the Protestants of Alsace, being rebels trampled under foot the laws of the empire, refused to pay taxes, evade military service, set at nought morality, and pilfered other men's rods. For, in point of fact, a sect which is destined to certain damnation would be very silly if it were to deny itself any possible enjoyment in this present world. But the things I have heard here completely astonish me. I have been assured by a Catholic policeman that the Fmperor has no more devoted, more peaceable, or more irreproachable subjects, than these cursed heretics. A Catholic officer swears to me that his best soldiers are Protes- tants. I learn from a Catholic tax-gatherer that the Protestants not only pay their taxes regularly, but that many of them make it a point of paying all their contribution for the year on New Year's day. A Catholic Superin- ndent of Woods and Forests declares to me that in a canton of which three-fourths of the inhabitants are Protestants, 93 per cent of the offences against the forest laws arc committed by Catholics. I could not believe say ears. 'But, gentlemen,' I exclaimed, with all the authority of the trite faith, it is most certain that Catholics arc more enlightened than Pro- testants, since their light comes front on High. Moreover, they must ne- cessarily be more rich, because, as we know- " Dieu prodigue ses Liens

• A eeux qni font vain d'etre siens." '

They civilly answered rue that I was altogether in error. That tile heretic youth of this district was better educated than our own and for this reason that the Protestant ministers were able and zealous men, who threw their whole souls into their work ; while, on the other hand, the good Catholic priests of Alsace knew nothing more than how to say mass and curse Pro- testants. They further told me that the Protestants are the best farmers, that their dwellings are the neatest and cleanest, that they are the best men of business, and make fortunes more frequently than Catholics. They showed me Protestant villages in a state of the highest prosperity, lands yielding rich harvests, and flourishing manufactures—such, for example, as those of M. G oldenburg and M. Schatenman. They:showed me Catholic ham- lets, and even towns, in which idleness, drunkenness, and misery, enjoyed a fraternal reign, notwithstanding that all the women attended mass every day, and that the men kept more than a hundred saints' days in a year You see,' said a heretic to me, 'that the influence of Rome is felt athir off. P. may be compared to the sirocco, which blows across the deserts of Africa and throws us upon our backs at Strasburg. It is a happy thing for us that we have found a shelter against the blast from Rome. And, remember this, that if our kings of the sixteenth century had allowed France to be- tame altogether Protestant, it would at this time of day have become infi- nitely more rich and more moral than it is.' This hypothesis so shocked my Catholic pride that I exclaimed to the Protestant, Sir, what you have just said appears to me a monument of hypocrisy, and an ignoble tissue of contradictions.' In this way I shut him up. For, between ourselves, his arguments were not easy to refute, and when you do not feel yourself able to answer a 111371, the shortest way out of the difficulty is to insult him."

5ta14.—The most important piece of information from Italy is the return of Count Cavour to power. On the 17th the Piedmontese Gazette announced that "the King had accepted the resignation of the Ministry, and had charged Count Cavour with the formation of a new Cabinet."

Next to this is the information conveyed in the following passage from a letter by the Daily News correspondent at Florence, dated January 13. "You may consider it as almost settled that the two governments of Cen- tral Italy are on the eve of making one of the boldest, and at the same time one of the most necessary- steps towards the de facto annexation to Piedmont. The meeting of the Congress having been postponed sine die the rulers of this territory, as well as its people, feel that it would e, if not altogether dangerous, at least difficult to remain in this unsettled political condition any longer. The universal wishes of this orderly popula- tier. have been so clearly manifested, and the desire of being united to Sar- dinia so repeatedly expressed, that it has become smatter of honour both for Farms and Ricasoli to carry them into effect. Now that Commendatore Buoncompagni has come into Central Italy to govern its provinces in the came of N ictor Emmanuel—now that all the official acts of the two govern- ments are done in the King's name—it would be a mere hypocrisy to maintain any longer the abnormal political condition in which the four united States of the Italian Peninsula stand. Baron Iticasoli has, therefore, resolved to address an invitation to Farini to join him in a collective memo- randum, in which his Sardinian Majesty's Government is asked to take the initiative for the accomplishment of the votes given by- the National Assem- blies of the four States. The answer of the Governor of the 2Emilian pro- vinces is anxiously waited for,' and I have no doubt it will be in accordance with that wisdom which has always characterized the acts of the sometime Dictator of the two minor Italian Duchies Whatever may be the anal decision of the Sardinian Government, I hear that the men who now rule the destinies of this country are quite determined to assert the political rights of the Duchy, by ordering at once a general election throughout the !wintry, that the Deputies of Tuscany may be able to join their colleagues m the forthcoming meeting of the Sub-Alpine Parliament."

The Horning Post correspondent at Paris, reporting the arrival of the French Envoy at Turin, says :— " The French Minister will be found, according to his instructions, in

Ef4dlharmony with Sir James Hudson, her Britannic Majesty's Envoy at t ourt of Victor Emmanuel. Throughout the English end French Le- gations of the Italian peninsula the diplomatic agents of England and Prance have received similar harmonious instructions."

In answer to an address from the Tuscan troops, General Da Bormida, writing to Baron Ricasoli, speaks of Victor Emmanuel as " our " august sovereign. As the Archbishop of Pisa persists in maintaining a prayer for " our Grand Duke" in the new calendar, it is supposed that legal proceedings will be taken against him. He has been warned in vain. An Italian paper reports that 600 Hungarian Hussars, coming from Villafranca, had entered Cremona. They have deserted with arms and baggage, with their officers and non-commissioned officers, and were under the orders of a major. The Austrians are said to be accumulating materiel at Verona, and a corps ordered to Hungary has received counter orders.

It has been remarked that Colonel Cadogan, British Military Commis- sioner in the camp of Victor Emmanuel last summer, has been officially inspecting the condition of the 50,000 men forming the Army of Central Italy. He was at Modena on the 10th, and went on to Parma.

The official .Tournal of Rome of the 17th contained an article declaring " to all Catholics interested in the preservation of the States of the Church that the Pope, obeying the dictates of his conscience, has replied nega- tively to the counsel of the Emperor Napoleon. The official journal also states the reasons of the Pope's refusal to cede the province of Romagna, which is now in insurrection." The letter of the Emperor to the Pope created a great sensation at Rome. It is said that the actual words used by the Pope to General Goyon were much more offensive than those printed, and that he trembled with passion as he spoke. The Nord says that the Pope, the moment General Goyon'e back was turned, exclaimed, "Perhaps I have said too much."

The Neapolitan Government is said to be about to bid for the friend- ship of England by reducing the tariff on a variety of imported goods.

The Governor of Nice has prohibited the journal l'Arenir from dis- cussing the annexation of Savoy to France, and reproducing articles of foreign papers treating on that question.

Imit;rrlauk.—A telegram from Berne, dated January 17, says that the National Council had taken into consideration the report of the Fede- ral Council on the affair of the Valley of Dappe, and had voted the fol- lowing resolution :-

.' Considering the nature of the negotiations on the affair of the Valley of Dappe, and considering the actual state of political affairs, and being convinced that the Federal Council will know how to protect the dignity and the national interests of Switzerland, the Assembly leaves the direction of the Mildr to the Federal Council."

1311155il—The Liberals having elected Simon President of the Chamber, and having rejected the Roman Catholic candidate for the Vice-Presidency, the Roman Catholics have reinforced the Prussian Tories. Ministers, however, still count on a majority of 100. They have selected Liberals as chairmen of the bureaux. In the Upper House, the Opposition is in a majority. Various measures have been introduced, including a bill on marriage. It is proposed to abolish the laws against usury.

I:41111ga r 4.—The agitation is unabated. The Protestants do not seem to be dismayed by the convictions at Kaschau. The latest reported de- monstration took place at Debreczin on the 7th. A civil officer of the Austrian government was present, but his formal statement that the meeting was illegal was disregarded; they adopted a petition to the Emperor, and he threatened them with a prosecution. Some details of the trials at Kasehau have been published.

"The public prosecutor charged M. Zsedayi, the Reverend Mr. Maday, and Professor Palkiivy with felonious provocation to res'etance against the laws and legal authorities. His speech was long and tedious, but he dis- claimed the intention of the government to restrict the liberty of the Pro- testants, and repeatedly mentioned that it was not a religious but a po- litical prosecution. The defendants had no counsel, and spoke for them- selves. M. Zsedenyi, in his eloquent defence, disclaimed the felonious in- tention by referring to his services to the Imperial house in 1848 and 1849, when he had held out against the liberals, braving personal danger, at a time when Prince Metternich and other servants of the Crown had fled, or at least left their post. This part of his defence, though eloquent and true, did not meet with great favour among the audience. He continued to ex- plain that, far from wishing to embarrase the government by his motion for the rejection of Count Thun's illegal decree, he rather thought to do a ser- vice to the ill-advised government by cautioning it rather to retrace its steps than to encounter the opposition of the Protestant churches. He remarked besides that, since a government official was present on the occasion, expressly deputed by the government to watch and direct the proceedings, with full power to stop any speech, and even to dissolve the meeting, the respon- sibility must fall upon that Imperial commissary, who had made no remark either about the drift of the motion or about the tone of the speech. Mr. Maday took a somewhat different line ; he justified his course at Kresmark by charging the Government with illegality and religious persecution; but here he was stopped by the presiding judge1 and not allowed to con- tinue his remarks. Professor PalkOry, charged with having printed the re- solutions and sent them to all the Protestant congregations in the country, said but a few words. He stated that he did it because the meeting, legally convened and conducted, had ordered him to do so; it was his duty, and be never had learned to forsake his duty, whatever the consequences might be. The public prosecutor replied that the past services of M. Zsedenyi made his speech but the more dangerous, and pointed to the fatal agitatiod which has since spread over all the country as a result of M. Zsedenyi's motion, and so on. The Court ruled the question of competency out of order, and sentenced M. Zsedenyi to four months' imprisonment, and loss of nobility and pension ; Mr. Mader and Professor Palkovy each to two months' imprisonment, with two fast days every week, on which they are to subsist exclusively on prison bread and water. All the three defendants have appealed to the Court of Appeal at Eperies."

There is some talk of sending General Benedek as Governor to Hun- gary in the room of the Archduke Ablert.

0 Pill U.—The Nord states that on the 10th of this month the Spanish Minister paid into the hands of Mr. Buchanan the whole sum which has been so long due to the British Government—about ten millions and a half of francs.

3111111ITTII —The Spaniards are before Tetuan. We are without de- tailed accounts of a later date than the 5th of January, and are therefore compelled to rely on the telegrams. The march of the army was slow. Its route lay close to the sea shore. Great care was taken to protect the right flank and rear, and the camp at every halt was entrenched. The Moors gave but little trouble up to the 5th. The army had then ar- rived within sight of the Monte Negro, and anticipated in a day or two a combat. The next march was to be through a defile between the sea and a lagoon, and the tight was expected to take place just beyond the defile, where the ground afforded an exoellent position. It seems pro- bable the action took place. An undated telegram from Madrid says-

" Since yesterday we have been masters of all the positions of Cabo Negro: After having obtained a complete victory we are commanding all the heights of the valley of Tetuan. We shall be before that place as soon as the artillery is able to pass." The Madrid Gazette of January 11 published the following messages from O'Donnell .—

" Capitana, January m

"The day before yesterday, at the moment when the army commenced its march, the weather became so bad that we could no longer communicate with the sea. In spite of that, and notwithstanding the rain, thanks to the exertions of the artillery and engineering corps, the march was continued till evening without any other incident than our being assailed by a few ineffectual volleys of musketry. Yesterday bad weather again, and the sea in the same state. The enemy presented himself before our camp in long line in very considerable force, with the intention of surrounding us, but he was driven away by some cannonades, and by the fire of our guerillas. We had one soldier -killed and a few wounded. The spirit of the army is as good as ever, the soldiers being both obedient and enthusiastic. I have sent no bulletin since I had no longer communication with the sea, and could not avail myself of that by land ; the messenger would certainly have fallen into the power of the enemy. Yesterday morning I received intelli- gence that the war galley Rosalie had grounded. I immediately sent General Kubin with a battalion to help her. The crew was saved, and is now in the camp. It was not possible to save the vessel, owing to the state she was in.

"January 10, mid-day.—The enemy has not yet disturbed us. At ten o'clock transports with material of all kind on board began to appear. The state of the sea has not yet permitted of disembarkation. If that can be effected today, I shall continue my movement tomorrow, or perhaps the day after. The health of the army is good. Sickness diminishes in spite of the bad weather. There are few ill, and those only of ordinary maladies." The 5th corps d'armee embarked at Algesiras on the 13th, and two days afterwards landed on the banks of the river Tetuan without opposi- tion. The forts were abandoned by the Moors, and the Spaniards found in them seven guns and much ammunition. The army was about to pass the river and attack Tetuan.

It is stated that the Spanish artillery, from its position four miles dis• tent from Tetuan, throws shot nearly into the place.

ft nittli ktatm—Advices from New York to the 7th of January bring no news of the election of a Speaker. The Republicans remained firm to their choice, Mr. Sherman, and in more than one ballot the num- ber voting for him was within three of the necessary proportion. The Democrats had no favourite. Debates went on, but the speaking was nearly all on one side. The Republicans abstain, believing it to be un- coustitutional to speak before the House is organized unless on matters pertaining to the choice of a Speaker and the question of adjournment.

The state of Arkansas has passed a law to banish all free Negroes from its bounds, and it came into effect on the 1st of January 1860. Every free Negro found there after that date will be liable to be sold into slavery, the crime of freedom being unpardonable. The Missouri Senate has before it a bill providing that all free Negroes above the age of eight- teen years who shall be found in that state after September 1860, shall be sold into slavery ; and that all such Negroes as shall enter the state after September 1861, and remain there twenty-four hours, shall also be sold into slavery for ever. Mississippi, the chief of the repudiator; is legislating in the same way, and so are Kentucky and Tennessee.

There is news from the Texan frontier to the 2d instant. Cortinas, with 500 men, took the city of Rio Grande on the 24th December, killing a num- ber of the citizens. Subsequently, a body of troops and rangers, from Brownsville, attacked Cortinas and retook the city, after a hard fight, cap- turing the guns of Cortinas, and 760 Mexicans. Nine Americans were killed and sixteen wounded. Among the latter was Captain Ford, who led the attack. Cortinas fled across the river.