NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Session of the French Chambers was opened on Monday last. The King was well received in his progress from the Tuilleries to the Chamber of Deputies; but, owing to the bad state of the weather, the assemblage in the streets was not numerous. More than the usual number of Peers and Deputies attended to hear his Majesty's speech; of which the following is a translation.
"PEERS AND DEPUTIES, GauTTEisizzr—The tranquillity of France has not been disturbed since your last session. It is in the enjoyment of the blessings of order and peace. Throughout the country, industry and labour meet with their reward. The population, occupied and peaceful, feels assured of the stability of our institutions, of my fidelity in watching over them ; and the public security is the pledge of national prosperity. "It was by guaranteeing our rights, protecting our interests, and by the equity and moderation of our pqlicy, that we have obtained these happy results. In order to render them lasting, we shall persevere with energy and patience in the same system. An unceasing vigilance is still necessary : insensate passions and culpable manceuvres are at work to undermine the foundations of social
1- order. We will oppose to then; your loyal concurrence, the firmness of the Magistrates, the activity of the Administration, the courage and patriotism of the National Guard and of the Army ; the wisdom of the Nation, enlightened as to the danger of the illusions which those who attack liberty, in pretending to defend it, seek still to propagate; and we shall insure the triumph of consti- tutional order and our progress in civilization. It is thus, gentlemen, that we shall at length put an end to revolution, and that we shall fulfil the wishes of France. I thank her for the support she has given me ; I thank her for the tokens of confidence and affection with which she has surrounded Inc. I received them with emotion in such of the provinces as I have been able to visit; and I Tender thanks to Providence for the blessings which our country already enjoys, and for those which the future promises.
" You will also second me, gentlemen, in my endeavours to protect the increase of our national wealth, in opening to our commerce and industry new sources of prosperity, and in spreading comfort, combined with labour, throughout all classes of the population. I hope that the new law of customs, while it evinces the progress of our industry, will reconcile the protection which is due to it with those principles of prudent freedom which enlightened Governments arc disposed to admit. Popular instruction has received, thanks to your concurrence, a salutary impulse. The finance laws, and those which the execution of treaties requires, will be speedily presented to you. The public revenue improves; and every thing promises that it will continue to follow the ascending movement of our prosperity. Several projects of law, some of which have been already pre.. sented to you, will be submitted to your deliberation again. I have reason to hope that the promises of the Charter will be accomplished in the course of this Session.
"I am happy to announce to you, that our relations with all the Powers, and the assurances that I receive from them as to their dispositions, leave no doubt as to the maintenance of the general peace.
"The Peninsula has become the theatre of important events. As soon as the Government of the Queen Maria the Second was established in Lisbon, I re• newed our diplomatic relations with Portugal. In Spain, the death of the King, Ferdinand the Seventh, has called the Princess his daughter to the throne. I hastened to acknowledge the Queen, Isabella the Second ; hoping that such prompt acknowledgment, and the relations it established between my Govern- ment and the Queen Regent, would contribute to preserve Spain from the con- vulsions with which she was threatened. Already tranquillity is beginning to be restored to the provinces in which rebellion has broken out. The corps d'armee which I have ordered to be formed, at all events protects our frontiers. "Continuing to be intimately united with Great Britain, we have every rea- son to hope that the difficulties which still retard the conclusion of a definite
• treaty between the King of the Belgians and the King of the Netherlands will compromise neither the great- interests of Belgium nor the tranquillity of Europe.
"Switzerland has been momentarily disturbed by dissensions, which the pru- dent firmness of the Government in a short time put down. I hastened to render her the services that she bad a right to expect from a faithful and disin- terested ally. "The Ottoman empire has been threatened with great perils. I was anxious to hasten a pacification at once called for by the interests of France and the sta- bility of European order. I shall continue In efforts to insure its preservation. The events which I have just mentioned, and especially the situation of the Peninsula, have rendered it my duty, to maintain the army upon the footing re- quired by the safety of the state.
"Let us consummate our work, gentlemen: let order, powerful and respected, be henceforth sheltered from all attack; let the efficacious protection of the na- tional interests dissipate the last hopes of the factious; and France, happy and
free under the tutelary shield of the Government which she has founded, will at length pursue without obstacle a course of prosperity. This is my most ardent wish, and you will assist in securing its entire accomplishment."
If any reliance is to be placed on Louis Plum P'S declarations, the policy of his Government is still eminently pacific. How far his Majesty is justified in the view he seems to have taken of the general state of European politics, is another matter. It will be seen that no reduction is to be made in the army; and, though no notice is taken of the circumstance by Louis PHILIP, it is well known that considerable activity prevails in the naval dockyards. It was perhaps deemed prudent to counteract any alarm which these preparations for war may have occasioned, by an announce- ment of pacific intentions from the throne. No one, however, will believe that the French Government would consent to the occupa- tion of Constantinople by Russia; or that the "situation of the Peninsula" is the real cause of maintaining the army on its present footing. The safety of France is certainly not put in jeopardy by MERINO'S Guerillas, or Don MIGUEL'S garrison of Santarem. The fact is, that the political horizon lowers in the North and the East; and hence the necessity for Louis PHILIP'S warlike pre- parations on land and sea.
The speech is rather contradictory astaregards the internal politics of the country. We are told in the first paragraph, that tran- quillity has not been disturbed, and that France is in the enjoy- ment of the blessings of order and peace. But if we read a few lines further, we find it stated, that unceasing vigilance is still ne- cessary, as "insensate passions and culpable manceuvres are at work to undermine the foundations of social order." In other words, the Carlists and Republicans persevere in plotting the over- throw of the Juste Milieu.
No intimation whatever is given that any reduction of taxation will take place. Our neighbours, however, are led to expect a modification of their system of commercial restriction, which will enable them to support their present burdens with less difficulty. Some progress at all events will be made towards. the adoption of a more rational policy, though there is too much reason to fear that it will be very gradual.
M. DUPIN, who was supported by the Government, was on Tuesday reelected President of the Chamber of Deputies, by 220 members out of 299 who were present. LAFAYETTE received 39 votes, LAFITTE 111, ODILLON BARROTT 11, and DUPONT de l'Eure 7. The Government have also succeeded in electing three Vice-Presidents favourable to their party; and it was supposed that M. PERSIL, the Advocate-General, would be the fourth.
It is rumoured that there are dissensions in the Cabinet, owing to the wish of SOULT to rid himself of his Doctrinnaire colleagues, and to supply their places by M. DUPIN and some of his friends : but this does not seem to receive much credit.
