NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.
EVERY other topic of continental interest has been absorbed by the great debate in Paris on the revision
of the French Constitution. That question means of course, in other words, whether or not Louis
Napoleon shall be made re-eligible to the Presidency; and it has been decided against the Prince. But the
mere number of votes recorded appears to be of infinitely less importance than the names of the men who
have taken this opportunity of declaring their distrust and dislike of the present President of France. Not
because they object to any disturbance of the new republican regime (which, in such true republicans as
Cavaignac, Lamartine, and others, is an intelligible and admirable motive for the course they have taken) did
Changarnier, Lamoriciere, and Bedeau, vote against any further change. Not because he desires a republic
did M. Thiers vote for the maintenance of the present constitution. Not for any similar reason do we find
such names as the Lafayettes and Lasteyries, M. de Laborde, M. de Remusat, M. Piscatory, M. Baze, M. de
Mornay, and M. de Larochejaquelin, ranged in this division among the supporters of things as they are. But
all these men have simply taken the occasion to proclaim to Europe that they do not sympathise with the
ill-concealed objects and aims of M. Louis Napoleon's ambition. Still he would be a sanguine person that
inferred from all this that the present President must go;—that, unable to retain power in the difficult
character of a great man, he will be content to quit it in the easier character of an honest man. At present,
even with this debate still ringing in the ears of France, no such reasonable supposition appears to be
entertained. But it may be confessed that the chances appear to be less than were formerly counted upon
for a successful issue to any Quixotic enterprise in search of an empire. The most resolute as well as the
most able men in France have now too decidedly and strongly declared against it.
In France the Revision of the Constitution continues
the paramount subject of interest. The Report of the
Committee on that question was read to the Assembly
on the 8th, by its author, M. de Tocqueville; a long
and masterly document, which, after examining the
existing defects of the constitution, concluded by
recommending its "revision in totality." At the same time,
the sub-committee appointed to authenticate the
petitions on the subject, made their report, from which it
appeared that the petitions presented up to the 1st of
July had been signed by 1,123,625 persons, thus classified;
for the revision, 741,011; for the revision and
prolongation of powers, 370,511; for the prolongation
of powers, 12,103.
The debate in the assembly began on the 14th, and
closed on the 19th. The speakers were the leading
members of all the various parties; Dupin, Falloux,
Cavaignac, Berryer, Victor Hugo, Baroche, Dufaure,
and Odilon Barrot; and the most extreme opinions were
advanced, from legitimate monarchy to red
republicanism. The result of the division was, that out of 724
members, 446 voted for revision, and 278 against it.
This majority, being short of the requisite three-fourths
of the whole votes, the motion for the revision of the
constitution was lost.
This division, adverse to the views of the government,
was followed on the 21st by another, directly
hostile to ministers. M. de Melun presented a report
on the petitions for revision, complaining that undue
official influence had been used in getting them up;
and a vote of censure was immediately moved, and
carried by 333 to 320. On this the ministers resigned,
but the President refused to accept their resignations.
The affairs of Germany are in a state of stagnation.
The only point of political interest is the progress of the
scheme for annexing the non-German provinces of
Austria to the Germanic Federation. England and
France presented notes protesting against the admittance
of the collective states of Austria. The diet dealt with
the matter directly, and resolved unanimously on the
17th, that no foreign interference should be allowed in
a purely German question.
An imperial ordinance upon the press has been
published in Vienna. By the first section, power of
suspension is given to the Stadtholder to suspend, for two
months, any periodical publication which, after two
warnings, shall "take a hostile direction to the throne,
the unity and integrity of the empire, religion, morality,
or the maintenance of the public peace." "Suspension
for a longer period, or total prohibition, can only be
decreed by the council of ministers." But with respect
to foreign works "of all kinds," they can be
"prohibited in the whole extent of the empire by the
minister of the Home Department."
The mail which left Lisbon on the 19th instant brings
news of military disturbances at various points. It is
said that confidence in the stability of the government
is at an end. The Miguelites had assembled as a party
in what may be called a public meeting, to deliberate
upon the course they should pursue in the coming
elections.
The latest accounts from Italy state that the Pope is
in retirement at Castel Gandolfo, guarded by French
dragoons. Ferdinand of Naples has visited his Holiness
at the Castle, and General Gémeau was also in attendance.
It was supposed that French affairs, and the
probabilities of democratic republican success in the
coming revision troubles, were the themes of discussion.
A letter from Naples of the 3rd inst. mentions that
forty-six persons have now been arrested on account of
the part they took in the affair of the 15th of May,
1848. Among these persons are Archdeacon Cagnozzi,
aged ninety-seven; the ex-Minister Pietro Leopardi,
who was at Turin on that day; Vicenzo Tavazzi, aged
eighty-six; and Giuseppe Solidati, aged eighty-three.
The accounts from New York are to the 16 inst. The
political intelligence is unimportant. Considerable
interest had been excited in New York by a requisition
from Sir H. Bulwer, the British minister to the United
government, for the extradition of a deserter, named
Welsh, from the British army in New Brunswick. The
accused was charged with stealing sundry arms and
equipments, in order to make his offence indictable
under the conditions of the treaty. He is a man of
some intelligence, and conducted his own cause at the
primary examination with a good deal of shrewdness.
The decision was for the release of the prisoner, who
was received on leaving the court with hearty cheers
from a crowd of Irishmen. He has entered the regular
army of the United States.
The Canary Islands are undergoing a dreadful
visitation of the cholera. It made its appearance in Grand
Canary at the end of May, and rapidly gained ground
through the early part of June; the deaths on the 10th,
11th, and 12th, reaching to upwards of 100 daily. On the
8th the principal inhabitants began to escape; on the
9th the panic was general; and by the 10th the British
Vice-Consul estimates that there were not more than 4000
left out of a population of 16,000. The dead lay about
unburied. The living who had any strength left were
hunted by the soldiers to help in burying the dead.
This continued until the 16th, when the severity of
the disease abated; it became gradually less up to the
23rd and 24th, at which point the accounts cease. It
is estimated that about 1000 died out of the 4000 who
remained in the town. The cholera is supposed to
have originated in some bedding landed from a ship
which arrived from Havannah. The people were
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