NEWS OF THE WEEK.
PRINCE NAPOLEON'S eighteenth birthday came round on Monday, the 16th inst., and he is now, therefore, the actual head of his family, having attained his full majority. The Bona- partists accordingly organised a magnificent demonstration, nearly 6,000 Frenchmen, including all the leading civilian members of the party, presenting themselves at Chiselliurst. After hearing mass, and one of the worst sermons we ever remember to have read— a sermon in the regular Chadband style, to which we should have thought no Catholic priest ever-stooped—the Prince received an address and made a reply, on which we have commented elsewhere. It is, on the whole, a fine speech, very moderate, entirely free from any divine-right idea, and in full accord with the tradition of the party that a Napoleon cannot reign except in virtue of a plebiscite, but that reigning, he must be autocratic, and above the parties, in order to reconcile them all. It has produced a powerful effect in France,' deepening the conviction of both Monarchists and Republicans that they, and they 'only, can stay the tide of Imperialism, and helping to induce Marshal Mac- to issue a letter reaffirming that he considers the Septennat a reality. It is assumed in the Assembly that the speech was written by M. Rouher, but therel0 'a distinct trace of another hand, it may be the-Prince's - own. The only notable feature of the paper, not noticed elsewhere is the' total absence of any allusion to the revindicistion of Alsace-Lorraine. -
