The French papers state that the Emperor Napoleon is about
to visit the camp at Chalons ; and that Garibaldi will take command of the Tuscan army.
The Gazette of L'idge gives what purports to be the substance of the letter recently sent by the Emperor Napoleon to the Pope.
"The alliance of the two Catholic empires, and the title offered to the Pope of Chief of the Italian Confederation, show sufficiently that Italy will be reorganized in a conservative and religious, not in a revolutionary sense. The Holy Father has no more respectful or more faithful sons than the chiefs of the two great Catholic nations, and the influence as well as the force of their nations is entirely devoted to him. After explaining the views he has conceived in relation to the Italian Confederation, the Em- peror declares that he would be far from prescribing reforms to be carried out by the Holy Father, or from exacting conditions for his loyalty and devotion, but he insinuates that it would perphaps be opportune, that it would be worthy of the Holy Father if be would cooperate with him in the work of organizing Italy by complying with some of the legitimate wishes of the population living under his paternal rule. In this delicate passage the reform indicated, though in extremely moderate terms, is the seculari- sation of power at least in the Legations. Tmally, the Emperor, in refer- ring to the organization of some national force, which it would be difficult to raise without the conscription, offers some observations on the subject of the French occupation,. tending to show the inconvenience to the Holy Father of i
prolonging this state of things. i " This is in substance the letter of the Emperor."
The Pope is said to have replied by inquiring into the whereabouts of the Confederation and the nature of the President's duty, by hinting that the sovereigns of Italy must be restored ; by showing that the Code Na- poleon is not in accord with apostolic government, and is besides less perfect than the Roman code ; and by pointing out that before he con- siders the question of reforms he must have his own territories back again.
The official journal of Lombardy denies the report that Count Reiset is engaged in negotiating the return of the Dukes of Tuscany and Modena ; and affirms that his instructions from the Emperor Napoleon are favourable to the wishes of Italy.
A general society for banking and trading has been established at St. Petersburg, by Baron Haber, manager of the Darmstadt bank, M. Hanseman, director of the Discount Bank of Berlin, and Baron Mulkens. Capital 200,000,000 francs, in shares of 400 francs.
Previous page
