interfered; and, in consequence, the editor of L' Opinione,
a liberal journal, has been banished from the Sardinian
States.

A continuance of heavy rain in Belgium on the 15th,
16th, and 17th has produced disastrous inundations in
various parts of that country. At Antwerp there was a
tremendous storm of rain, wind, and thunder. The
lightning struck several buildings; many of the streets
were under water; and large trees were uprooted in the
neighbouring country. At Ghent a large sugar
manufactory was destroyed by lightning, and people were
killed by it in different places. A great part of the city
of Brussels and the neighbouring villages were under
water; for nearly two days; and many houses were so
much damaged that they fell, and a number of persons
perished. Near Charleroi all the fields were submerged,
and the injury done to the crops was immense. At
Valenciennes the Scheldt overflowed, inundating the
neighbouring country, and causing vast devastation. The
damage done to the crops has produced a rise in the
price of flour. Many bridges have been swept away,
and the injury done to the railways has been immense.

The commencement of the War between Denmark and
Schleswig-Holstein, was marked by a bloody battle on
the 25th of July, at Idstedt, a place near the town of
Schleswig, when the Danish army, under General Krogh
defeated the Schleswig-Holstein troops under General
Willesen. The battle lasted for two days, and was
desperately fought. It appears that General Willesen
lost from 2,500 to 3,000 men, including a large proportion
of officers. The loss of the Danes was even greater, as they
did not pursue the worsted army. It included General
Sehleppegrell, the second in command, and several
other officers of rank. After the battle General
Willesen took up a strong position near Schestedt, and
issued a proclamation on the 27th, declaring that the
spirit of the army was unbroken, and that in a few days,
it would be stronger than before. Another engagement,
but neither extensive nor decisive, took place on the
8th, between the Danish and Holstein forces, at
Sorguruck near Rendsburg.—On the previous day a
frightful catastrophe occurred at Rendsburg, in the
explosion of the laboratory of the artillery, whereby the
whole building was destroyed, with the loss of nearly
a hundred lives, and a great quantity of military
ammunition.

The King of Denmark has contracted a morganatic
marriage with Lola Rasmussen, a person of low degree,
and formerly a milliner. She has great influence over
the king, and has obtained from him the title of Baroness
Banner.

Advices from New York have been received to the
16th inst.—The "Compromise Bill," introduced into
the senate by Mr. Clay, for the purpose of conciliating
the differences between the northern and southern states,
was nominally passed, but substantially defeated, on the
31st of July. The bill originally contained provisions
for the admission of California, the settlement of the
Texas boundary, the admission of New Mexico and Utah
as territories, and provisions to reclaim fugitive slaves
from free states. All the provisions except the admission
of Utah were struck out by amendments brought
forward by Mr. Dawson of Georgia and Mr. Pearce of
Maryland. This result has created a deep sensation
throughout the country.

A treaty has been concluded with Mexico for a route
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, across the isthmus of
Tehuantepec. It is provided that the United States
may send forces for the protection of the work, if necessary;
that both governments are to maintain neutrality
on the route, and ten leagues on each side thereof, in
times of war as well as of peace; and that Mexico is to
maintain full sovereignty over the route and over the
territory designated as neutral. The distance from sea
to sea in a direct line is 135 miles, but the length of the
projected line is 198 miles; the summit level to be
overcome is 650 feet.

A desperate affray occurred at New York on the 5th
inst., between the police and a mob composed of tailors,
in which some lives were lost. The disturbance was
caused by the tailors attacking the house of a man who
was said to be working at prices below those usually
charged.

The demonstration recently made at Lisbon is not
likely to be attended by any serious result. It is now
stated that the presence of two United States ships of
war at Lisbon was not meant to denote any hostile
intent; and that a certain number of days having been
allowed to the Portuguese Government to reply to the
United States demands, merely meant that if the reply
should not be made, or not made in a satisfactory
manner, the President, General Taylor, intended to lay the
matter again before Congress, for further action.

Sir H. Bulwer arrived at New York on the 27th of
July.

The California State Bill passed the senate on the 13th
inst. by a majority of 34 to 18. Mr. Pearce's bill for
the settlement of the boundary dispute between Texas
and New Mexico had passed on the 9th by a majority of
30 to 20. The bill establishing a territorial government
of New Mexico was sanctioned on the 15th inst.

Intelligence had been received from Havanna relative
to the remainder of the Cuba prisoners. Seven of them
are to be liberated in the course of the month; the other
three are to have eight years of the chain gang. This
is the wind-up of Lopez's piratical invasion of Cuba.

President Fillmore's new administration is constituted
as follows:—Secretary of State, Mr. Webster; Secretary
of the Treasury, Mr. Corwin; Secretary of the Navy,
Mr. Graham; Postmaster-General, Mr. Hall; Secretary
of the Interior, Mr. McKennan; Secretary of War,
Mr. Conrad; Attorney-General, Mr. Crittenden.

NARRATIVE OF LITERATURE AND ART.

THOUGH "the Publishing season " is at an end, some items in our appended summary will show that books
are still published occasionally which can never be unseasonable. But it is a dull time; and French
novel-readers will think it all the gloomier for having brought the death of Balzac. He was a writer of
undoubted genius. Whatever English taste might find to object to in him, it remained undeniable that the
author of Père Goriot, the Peau de Chagrin, Eugenie Grandet, and the Recherche de I'Absolu, took rank with the
highest masters of fiction. Victor Hugo spoke at his grave, and well remarked that nothing more distinctly
impresses us with our divine destiny than so to stand in the presence of the illustrious dead. Nor, beside the
memory even of a man of genius so unquestionable as Balzac, will a word of regret be inopportune for one
of the most delicate female writers in the modern literature of America. Margaret Fuller perished in the
great storm off the American coast at the close of last month; and with her has departed a clear and just
intellect, an exact and beautiful perception of the niceties of art and poetry, and a courage true and fearless,
which our American friends can ill spare. She had married the Count d'Ossoli during a somewhat prolonged
residence in Europe, and was returning home with her husband and child. Other calamities affecting
not less the humanising influence of the arts, though mixed up with no personal regrets, are to be found in
such incidents as the dispersion or destruction of great picture-galleries. The Hague has lost its noble collection
of paintings; and all its famous master-pieces of the Italian, Flemish, and Dutch schools, are now on
their way to the public galleries of St. Petersburg or Paris, with the exception of such isolated specimens