The news of the week from France is decidedly unsatisfactory.
The Senate has decided that the decree of 24th November does not materially modify the position of the Press, and M. de Persigny has just given evidence that it is not intended to be free. The Courrier du Dinzanche, a paper of no standing, published an article by a Wallachian, reflecting on the servitude to which " Cesarism " reduced France. The paper received a warning, and the writer was expelled France. At the same time rumours are circulated, usually through demi-official channels, that the French occupation of Syria will be prolonged. At the same moment passionate accounts of Mussulman threats are published in London and Paris, and the Druses represented as anxious to renew the contest in the Lebanon. The Sultan, it is said, earnestly desires the withdrawal of the French army ; and as neither England nor Russia can view a French occupation of Syria with much patience, it is possible the army may be with- drawn. Further steps in the direction of Free-trade are re- ported, but with more foundation in argument than in fact. The Colonies complain that the admission of foreign sugar ruins their staple, and ask permission in recompense to trade with nations other than France.
