Sortiot anti Tolonial.
FRANCE.—The discussions in the Chamber of Deputies on the sup- plemental credits of the Foreign Minister closed on Saturday. In the course of the long and discursive debates, M. Thiers attacked the Ca- binet on the score of their policy at Montevideo. Montevideo, he said, is at the mouth of the River Plata ; Buenos Ayres is inconveniently far up : Buenos Ayres is rude in its ideas ; Montevideo is under civic in- fluences : in Montevideo there are nearly 20,000 French, so that it is more profitable to France than any colony which she possesses : he, when in office, supported Montevideo against Buenos Ayres, and the French were then invited to arm ; now they have been ordered by the French Government to disarm under pain of denaturalization ; and that too at a time when the Buenos Ayres leader Oribe threatens the lives and property of foreigners with destruction. M. Guizot spoke twice on this point : he had, he said, stopped an idle expense of 300,000 francs, which used to be made to support some party or other; and he had obtained a treaty securing French subjects against war-taxes or im- plication in local hostilities—their proper position. M. Thiers himself had recommended such a treaty. N. Guizot also made some im- portant statements. He said, that measures were taken for sending to France, through English bankers, the arrears of the Hayti loan ; the fixing the position of French Guyana was in course of negotiation in Paris ; the commercial treaty with Belgium was abandoned ; France and England were exerting themselves in concert at Constantinople to put a stop to the troubles in Albania; and care was taking that the article of the Greek Constitution obliging the successor to the throne to adopt the Greek religion should be either done away with or should be prevented from producing untoward effects.
On Monday, the First Bureau of the Chamber of Deputies, which had been called upon to examine the election of M. Charles Laffitte at Lou- viers, for the fourth time declared against its validity, by a majority of 16 to 5.
The funeral of Jacques Lafitte took place on Thursday last week, with great pomp. Nearly the whole Chamber of Deputies was present; three Members of the Cabinet—Marshal Soult, M. Cunin Gridaine, and M. Lacave Laplagne ; several members of the Royal Household ; M. Thiers, N. Beranger the poet, and many other persons of note. The funeral procession was of immense length ; and the whole ceremony was viewed by a crowd of some 20,000 persons. A great body of troops es- corted the procession, ostensibly to do honour to the departed statesman, but more probably to keep order. At the tomb in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise, funeral orations were delivered by M. Pierre Lafitte the banker's brother, M. Arago the astronomer, an elector of Rouen, M. Gamier Pages, and N. Dupin the elder. M. Gamier Pages made the virtues and wrongs of the departed the pretext for uttering a violent Re- publican tirade. M. Arago more appropriately told an anecdote of Lafitte- " The just pride which M. Lafitte derived from his humble origin, is perhaps the last feeling that powerfully agitated him. The Prince de la Moskowa's very young daughter, who was the object of the old man's tender affection, was recently telling him, whilst playing, that her school-companions called her a princess ; but one thing puzzled them—how was it that the grandfather of a princess was not a prince ? The reply is a very simple one,' answered Lafitte • tell them that I am a prince' a prince of the plane! and should your young schoolfellows not understand this explanation, you will add—mind you, for I order you to tell them that—my father was a carpenter.'"
The Courrier Francais admits that the posture of affairs in Algiers has become alarming. Morocco, at issue with Spain, suspects that France supports her European ally : the Emperor has therefore joined in alliance with Abd-el-Kader, and has proclaimed a "holy war" against the Infidels. On the other hand, the French officers are said to be eager to cross the Morocco frontier in search of glory. A son of the Emperor's leads the united Moorish forces ; but Abd-el-Kader is the real leader ; and the tribes appear to be in a state of excited valour. General Lamoriciere had concentrated his troops on Tlemcen, as a barrier to the threatened invasion of the French territory.
'Nina.— The over-land mail brings intelligence from Bombay to the let instant. It is not important; consisting merely of the sequel to a few points of news in the previous accounts. The affair of the muti- nous Sepoys had been brought to a close by the disbanding of the Thirty-fourth Bengal Regiment, which to the last refused to obey the order for marching to Scinde. Other regiments had returned to their duty, and had been treated with leniency. The hot season had begun in Scinde ; but the troops still kept their health. The Governor- General, still at Calcutta, was about to proceed to Allahabad. Gwalior exhibited no open disorders ; but intrigues are said to be as rife as ever : the Minister placed in power by Lord Ellenborough was unpopular, and it is even reported that attempts had been made to assas- sinate him.
In the Punjaub all was turbulence and vicissitude. Beers Singh, the Minister, held a precarious tenure of power ; but was still able to visit his enemies with fatal discomfiture. Two of Runjeet's reputed sons had revolted, and had ensconced themselves at Sealkote, a fortress about eighty miles North of Lahore. Some of their adherents at Lahore in- vited Suchet Singh, Heera Singh's uncle, to come to Lahore. He did come, with a small escort, variously stated at a hundred and five hun- dred; but finding that his friends could not oust the ruler, he attempted to retreat. The Minister's troops attacked him in a mosque, with a large force and a park of artillery : the mosque was knocked to pieces, and Suchet Singh died sword in hand. His fall was deemed fatal to the two revolted leaders. The papers report that Sikh agents had been implicated in the Sepoy mutiny. Akhbar Khan was still at Jellalabad, watching events in Peshawar.
CHINA.—The intelligence from China comes down to the 10th of March. The Legislative Council of Hong-kong had passed two im- portant laws, to abolish slavery in that English colony, and to regulate the printing of books and papers. Importance is attached to a trifling affair connected with some infraction of recent treaties. Two English vessels, the Amelia and Maingay, went to Shanghae, secretly laden with opium. Finding no sale for it, they transshipped some into the William, which was about to sail to another port. An English mer- chant, whose motive is not known, gave information to the Chinese Intendant of the port ; who refused to interfere ; and punished the bearer of a second message. The English Consul was then called upon to in- terpose; and reluctantly he did so. The vessels were seized ; the William the Fourth was sent to Hong-kong, and fined five hundred dollars ; the other two were permitted to unload on lodging the proceeds of the cargo in the hands of the Consul, to await Sir Henry Pottinger's instructions. Sir Henry is said to have given a cold reception to the informer.
SUMATRA.—Several piratical robberies on British shipping having occurred off the coast of Sumatra, the Queen's ships Harlequin and Wanderer, and the Company's steamer Diana, were sent, under Captain the Honourable G. Hastings, to demand redress of the Sultan. His Majesty referred the Captain to the Governor of Pedier, who was in- structed to deliver up a robber-chief; but the Governor professed in- ability to comply. The expedition attacked and demolished the town of Battu, and damaged that of Murdu ; encountering some unavailing resistance from the people ; the British not escaping quite without loss. It is hoped that this blow will check piracy.
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