jfortign anb grolonial.

SWITZERLAND.—The narratives of the civil war are still meagre and con- flicting to a degree that forbids all reliance on the details: for instance, there is no account respecting the loss in killed and wounded in the most critical battle; and the behaviour of the troops on either side ispainted according to the bias of each writer. It matters the less, as the interest lies in the results. The Federal army reached the neighbourhood of Lucerne in five columns, on the 22d of November; Colonel Ziegler's column crossed the river Reuss, by a bridge of boats, on the 23d, and took the fort of Honau by a sharp assault. The Federal army next advanced in the village of Roth, within a lmgue and a half of Lucerne: here they encountered a vigorous resistance from General Salis- Soglio, but ultimately bore it down; and the army of the Separate League now dispersed itself in every direction; the men from other Cantons returning home. The authorities of Lucerne sent to solicit a trace; but General Dufour told them that they were too late; and on the 24th he entered Lucerne without resistance. The principal men of the Sonderbund fled. On the 27th, a meeting of the people was held, to constrict a new government; and the power was provisionally placed in the hands of the Municipal Council. Resolutions passed at this meeting directed the adherents of the Sonderbund to be publicly accused, and ordered the Jesuits to ,quit the Canton in forty-eight hours. Emigrants who had been exiled for their connexions with the Corps Francs were flocking in; and conspicuous among them was Dr. Steiner, who had been cruelly treated in prison. In short, the Anti-Jesuit party in Lucerne had matters all their own way.

The Cantons of Uri, Unterwalden, and Schwytz, had sent in their submission: the only one of the seven Cantons that bed not submitted was Glaris, a small iso- lated Canton to the South of Berne.

The leaders of the Sonderbund still talked of maintaining some resistance in the Cantons of Valais and Tessin.

The terms on which the Five Powers have agreed to interpose in the affairs of Switzerland are now known. A convention was signed in London on Friday last, by the Dec de Broglie and Lord Palmerston; and Sir Stratford Canning arrived in Paris on Monday, on his way to attend a Congress of representatives of the Five Powers. According to the Times, the mediation of the Five Powers is to be offered to the Swiss Diet and the Sonderbund on the following basis- " 1. That the Catholic Cantons appeal to the Holy gee for counsel oil the relleioua Part of the dispute. " 2. That the Diet undertake to protect these of the cantons whose sovereignty is threatened.

" 3. The dissolution of the Sonderbund.

" 4. General and reciprocal disarmament.

" 5. An undertaking not to infringe or in any respect modify the Pact without the unanimous assent of all the Cantons.

" Should mediation on these bases be accepted, then the representatives of the FITS Powers will immediately proceed with their work of pacification. If refused, the Five Powers will respectively regard the attempt at mediation at an end, and resume their respective positions as if no such proposition had been entertained, and act according to circumstances."

FRANCE.—A sensation has been created in Paris by the election of an Oppo- sition candidate for Rochefort: the new Deputy is M. Baroche, who had 246 votes his antagonist, General Dumas, Aide-de-camp to the King, bad 235.

M. Napoleon Duchatel has declined to accept the Embassy to Naples.

A serious disturbance occurred at Gratz, in Styria, on the 18th November. The clergy having refused burial to a young man who died in the hospital without the succours of religion, the people assembled, placed the body in a coffin, which they carried in procession to the Church of St. John the Baptist, and entered the church by force. They then compelled the chaplain to a regiment of artillery stationed in the town to celebrate the funeral offices. After burying the body In the cemetery, the people, 20,000 in number, went to the residence of the Arch- bishop and broke the windows, with cries of Down with the clergy I" " Death to the Jesuits!" The Archbishop appeared on the balcony, and attempted to speak; but he was pelted with stones, struck in the face, and made to withdraw. The mob then traversed the streets, shouting against the clergy and the Jesuits; and broke the windows of the houses in which they believed the priests lodged. A strong armed force had to be called out to disperse the mob.

NORTH AMERICA.—The mail-steamer Caledonia, which left Boston on the 16th and Halifax on the 18th November, arrived at Liverpool on Tuesday morning. General Scott's missing despatches had at last been received at Washington; but they merely confirmed the old published accounts; and much newer advised from Mexico had reached New York, namely, from Vera Cruz to the 9th of Oc- tober. Sefior Pefia y Pena was at Queretaro; there he had succeeded in assem- bling seventy-one of the Deputies of the Mexican Congress, who had decided that they would positively resume their sittings on the 29th October. It was said that a majority of the Deputies had decided in favour of an amicable adjustment of the dispute between the two Governments. Pefla y Pella had directed circulars to the six Governors of the Central Mexican States, requesting them to repair in- stantly to Queretaro, for the purpose of holding a special council, to consult upon what amount of men and munitions of war could be raised. with the view of con- tinuing hostilities, and also to deliberate upon the propriety of a continuance of the war.

Some doubt is thrown upon the previous accounts, which stated that Santa Anna had again been elected President. It is only certain that the Mexican Go- vernment bad superseded him in command of the army, and that General Rincon had been appointed to fill the command. Santa Anna protested against thia violation of " his rights as the first magistrate of the nation, and refused obedience to the orders of the Government. In the mean time he had retired to Tehuacan.

The Uuited States forces are reported to have captured Atlexco and Orizaba, and also Mazatlan, on the Pacific. In the advance on Puebla a well-known officer had been slain in a kind of single combat. " General Lane," says the Ge- nius of Liberty, a paper published at Vera Cruz, " having arrived at Perote, was there joined by Captain Walker and his command. Both advanced together on the Puebla road till they reached the town of Dreyes; at which place Captain Walker, by order of the commanding general, took up his line of march to Huff- mantla, by way of the towns of San Francisco and Guapastia. Oa his arrival at

Huamantla, a sanguinary engagement took place in the streets, between the force

of Captain Walker, consisting of 250 men, and that of the Mexicans, numbering 1,600. The result of this contest was the total expulsion of the enemy from the town, and its occupation by our valiant little army; which lost in the battle only six men; but the gallant Walker, after performing prodigies of valour and feats of the most daring character, fell in single combat, pierced by the spear of an en- raged father, goaded to actual frenzy by the death of his son, whose fall beneath the arm of Captain Walker he had just witnessed. The father rushed forward, heedless of all danger, to revenge his child's death; and, attacking the Captain with almost irresistible violence, plunged his spear into his body, and slew him almost instantly. In this engagement the Mexicans lost 200 men and three pieces of artillery. The latter were thrown into a gullI adjoining the town by the victors. After the achievement of their object, the dispersion of the enemy, for which they were despatched to Huamantla, the Americans evacuated the place, and directed their course to Pinal, on the Puebla road; which they reached with- out any opposition. There meeting with General Lane, the combined American force continued its march upon Puebla." General Lane entered the town and put the Mexican General Rea to flight. There had been much sickness in the United States army at Mexico, and from one-tenth to one-eighth of the occupying army were in hospital or dead from that cause. But General Patterson was about to leave Vera Cruz for Puebla and Mexico, with 5,000 men. In the United States considerable attention had been attracted by a string of resolutions which Mr. Henry Clay bad submitted to a public meeting at Lexing ton in Kentucky, the subject being the Mexican war. Mr. Clay said that he was entirely against the annexation of the Mexican territory, as one-half their own territory remained unoccupied, millions of acres of land being still in the market. He added, that the President was himself already half tired of the war, and would doubtless be glad enough to adopt any plan by which peace might be restored. As regards indemnity for American losses, Mr. Clay spoke of this as a sheer absurdity, as a proposition made to people who have nothing whatever to give. The resolutions which he moved, and which the meeting passed unani- mously, were an epitome of his speech. In the first, it is assumed that the pri- mary cause of the war was the annexation of Texas; in the second, that, in the absence of any specific declaration by the American Government, the President, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, had been left to the guidance of his own judgment in the matter; in the fourth and fifth, that the duty of Congress is to indicate its will on the question; in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, is contained a disavowal, on the part of the meeting, of all desire to occupy Mexico, and the expression of a strong desire for the restoration of the blessings of peace. The fifth resolution deserves to be quoted entire- " Resolved, That we view with serious alarm, and are utterly opposed to, any par- pose like the annexation of Mexico to the United Stades in any mode, and especially by conquest ; that we believe the two nations could not be happily governed by one com- mon authority, owing to their great differences of race, law, language, and religion, and the vast extent of their respective territories and the large amount of their respec- tive population, ; that such a union against the consent of the exasperated Mexican people could only be effected and preserved by large standing armies, and the constant application of military force ; in other words, by despotic sway exercised over the Mexican people In the first Instance, but which there would be Just cause to apprehend might, in process of time, be extended over the people of the United States; that we deprecate, therefore, such union, as wholly incompatible with the genius of our govern- ment and with the character of our free and liberal institutions ; and we anxiously hope that each nation may be lett in the undisturbed possession of Its own law; language, cherished religion, and territory, to pursue its own happiness according to what it may deem best for itself." The private letters from New York by the Caledonia represent business as be- ing generally in a sound state. Money, however, was in greatly increased de- mand, and the rate of discount, which was recently 6 and 7 per cent, had risen; owing to the shipments of specie, to 9 and 12 per cent. The amount of specie already sent was 450,0001. to England, and about 250,0001. to France. The Ca- ledonia brought 150,0001. Government, it was expected, would be large bolt=

rowers; and hence it was believed that there would be little relaxation in the money-market throughout the winter. The affairs of Prime, Ward, and Co. had turned out most fatally. Their debts are 800,000 dollars; and in America they have no assets whatever, a compara- tively small sum due to them on this side of the Atlantic, being all that the creditors have to look to. The only additional failures that have occurred are those of Kimball, Jewett, and Co., dry-goods jobbers, at Boston, whose liabilities are about 200,000 dollars, and two small dry-goods houses at Philadelphia. The cotton crop was now estimated to be of the average amount.

BRITisir AsmaicA.—The Canadian papers report several disasters among the Emigration officers, from fever. Dr. Clerk, of Quebec, had died; Captain We- thek, Superintendent of Sheds at Montreal, was dangerously ill; and so was Mr. Mills, the Mayor. "The Board of Health of Toronto," says a writer at Montreal, " are now advertising for four physicians for the Emigrant sheds in that city, who are to give up their private practice, and receive 25s. per diem to attend upon and visit twice a day 200 patients ill of contagions fever. I believe no one has accepted the generous offer. The emigrant ship Lord Ashburton, from Li- verpool to Quebec, had lost 107 passengers on her voyage, and had sixty ill of dysentery and ship fever on her arrival at Grosse Isle, the quarantine station be- low Quebec.