NEWS OF THE WEEK.
IN the list of the Ministry of France, as we gave it last week, there is a small correction to make,—Admiral de Rigny has refused the office of Marine Minister. No person has yet been appointed to fill the vacant secretaryship. M. de Berbis has been named, but if we may believe the Gazette de France, without reason. Several other candi- dates have been rumoured, apparently with equal foundation. The reasons for De Rigny's refusal are variously assigned. The most sub- stantial is the alleged declaration of his uncle Baron Louis, who is hostile to the new Cabinet, that he would deprive him of every shilling of his immense fortune if he accepted office under Prince Polignac. There Is no great sacrifice in giving up to the prospect of forty thou- sand a-year the sweets of an office, that, from the rage of the Liberal party, De Rigny might reasonably conclude he could not long enjoy. It is not to be doubted, however, that the refusal of such a man to join the new Ministry cannot fail to injure it deeply. It is not only the subtraction of the weight which his talents and high character would have conferred, but his refusal indicates haste and inconsideration in the Premier, in recommending to the King a man of whose sentiments he was not assured. De Rigny, however; is said to be friendly to the change, although he will not personally profit by it ; perhaps his ambition is fixed on something higher than the Marine. The clamour against Bourmont, who had hitherto been the most unpopular man of the Cabinet, seems to have been in some de- gree stayed, not because the Constitutionalists have altered their opi- nions of him, but because their wrath has been diverted into a new channel, by the appointment of M. Mangin to the Prefecture of Police. Yet if M. Mangin act up to his professions, we rather think that lie will shame the prophetic anticipations of his enemies. The following is an extract from a circular to the various officers of the important department over which he is called to preside ; and it appears to us to indicate much sound sense, much good feeling, and admirable mode- ration. After announcing his appointment, he says- " It is from the bosom of the magistracy—from that of the first tribunal in the kingdom—that I come. To insure the execution of the laws—to cause the rules to be respected—has been the study of my whole life. Thus it has been believed that there would be found—and, in fact, there will be found in me—a magistrate inimical to what is arbitrary. H is not enough that the police protects public order—it must also protect it by the means which the kin's and the regulations have laid down; it must not only watch over the security of the citizens—it must also make them sensible of it.
" I know what honourable examples my predecessor leaves me; I adopt them. I desire to continue them; thus I shall maintain the order which lie has established in the bureaux. You had his confidence—I give you mine. You all retain your employments—the situation of no one will be changed. I should be unhappy, gentlemen, if my coming into this office should affect the happiness of any one of you.
" What I say to you is not mere matter of course; it is my thoughts—my intentions I declare to you. I shall follow frankly the line of my duties; I shall follow it with firmness.
" I shall endeavour to secure myself from all error. If I mistake, warnings will not be wanting : I shall profit by them from whatever quarter they may come. A useful warning loses noticing of its importance by being given us by an enemy; an abuse ought not to be remedied with the less readiness because it has been pointed out in an offensive manner."
A few such declarations as the above from the members of the new Cabinet, and the fears of the Liberals will become the subject of laughter. Indeed, we cannot help thinking that they are even at this moment laying the foundation for the very evils which they deprecate. They cry " wolf"—to use the illustration of the Times—so lustily when there is no apparent danger, that should the wolf unhappily come, no one will listen to their clamour. At the same time, we must still express our confidence that no wolf will come—that the Ministry will not attempt any inroad-on the constitution, notwithstanding the heavy i suspicions under which they labour. The Times indeed insinuates, that even Bourmont, the greatest bugaboo of the Parisians, owes his appointment to the interposition of a Liberal, If this were the ease, the magnanimity of the patron was at least equal to his judgment. The point on which the Opposition journals still continue to insist, is the influence of England in bringing about the recent changes. Whe- ther they really believe what they assert, or merely Urge this objection because it is a popular one—whether their heads or their hearts, their% logic or their honesty, be at fault—we cannot determine. In either case, it is disappointing to find so very superior a journal as the Con- stitutionnel—which, compared with its contemporaries, is unquestion- ably the first of the first—it is disappointing to find such a journal, instead of endeavouring to rivet the links that bind France to England —the free to the free—running down the propitious connection, as one destructive of Gallic independence.
The causes that led to the change of Ministry are attempted to he traced by a correspondent of the Times. The refusal of the late Mi- nistry to authorize the bull of the Pope, in those particulars in which it was opposed to the Gallican Church, is said to have been the origin of their disgrace.
" This conduct," says the correspondent in question, " excited the anger of the High Church party, who, infuriated, sought the King, and repre- sented to him that such conduct was an attack upon religion itself,— an insult to the Pope ;—that the Ministers thereby had placed themselves under the interdict of. the Pope, and must be considered as excmninuni- cated ; and that consequently his Majesty could have no further intercourse with them. The King, alarmed and overcome by these menaces, which were strengthened by the solicitations and loud complaints of the old Ultra party, was induced to consent to the immediate dismissal of the French Administra- tion, and at once lie sent for Prince Polignac to give him his orders for the formation of a new one. The order was instantly obeyed. Without any pre- vious communication Messieurs Portal is and Bourdeau were sent for to St. Cloud. On their arrival, the King announced to the former, that lie desired to appoint him First President of the Court of Cassation, and as this charge was incompatible with that of Minister for Foreign Affairs, he expected lie would resign that office. Mons. Portalis at once assented, with a low reverence ; and Mons. Bourdeau, as Garde des Sceaux, without any observa- tion being made to him, was ordered to sign the ordinance appointing Prince Polignac Minister for Foreign Affairs."
This hypothesis, with its penny-a-line particularity, is no doubt well, calculated to insure the belief of those who have forgot that the Gal- limn Church has never acknowledged the power of the Pope to inter-, fere in its affairs ; coupled with the fact, that the new Ministry have in, no respect altered the orders of their predecessors respecting the said' bull and letter, although they were called to office for that special purpose. In the mean time, although the Ministry do not use coups d'etat to maintain themselves, they seem disposed to use the arm of the law ra- ther freely. The Journal des Debats has, it is said, been ordered to be prosecuted ; and a poor thing, called the Figaro, has been joined in this process of petty and always useless vengeance. Victor Hugo, who had a comedy ready for acting, has been refused permission to have it represented, though the refusal was softened by an offer of 6000 francs per annum, which the poet refused. Is there a small author in Britain would have done as much? In these matters the French are sublime compared avec nous autres Anglais. • The Russian party in Paris have, or think they have, lost ground by the elevation of M. de Polignac. M. Pozzo di Borgo has hitherto led the politics of the French Cabinet as he pleased. Perhaps, in our ig- norance of the complicated intrigues of Paris, we are giving more credit to the independence of journalists and poets than we ought to do : the clamour and crowing that the Opposition display may result from the influence of the same application which is shrewdly suspected to have opened the gates of Varna, if not of Silistria, and to have levelled the rocks of the Balkan as effectually as the vinegar of Hannibal burst the granite of the Alps.
The war in the East has become a secondary consideration since the war of journalisme was declared against the French Ministers. Its effects, however, are likely to be more deeply felt, though less may be said about it. General Diebitsch has finally succeeded, by a series of masterly manoeuvres, in passing the great barrier of Turkey, and has established himself securely on the south side of the ridge of the Bal- kan. On the 26th July his head-quarters were at Aidos ; and Mis- sivri, Ahioglu, (we use Arrowsmith's nomenclature,) and Bourgas, were in the possession of his troops, and those of Roth and Rudiger. Siseboli the Russians have, it will be recollected, held for some time past. The people of the country are described as Christians, and as well-disposed towards the invaders. In Asia, Paskowitsch has de- feated the Turks in the neighbourhood of Erzeroum; taken four Pachas, and about four thousand men ; and lastly, taken the strongly- situated and strongly-fortified and garrisoned city of Erzeroum itself. It is said to have fallen on the 9th. Trebezond is also said to have fallen into his hands, but this wants confirmation.
