and said that when she was going into the interior with
emigrants' provisions, sometimes a whole cartfull at a
time were laid for her on the road side. In conclusion,
she stated that this was a preliminary meeting, and
that she would meet them again on some future occasion,
to give them the benefit of her experience as to the
arrangements to be made for the passage, when she
hoped the rev. chairman, if he was not afraid, would
again preside. The Chairman said he was not at all
afraid, but should be happy to preside. Three cheers
were then given for Mrs. Chisholm and three for the
rector, and the meeting separated.

NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

The French Ministry has been reconstructed. M.
Achille Fould, formerly Minister of Finances, has been
placed at the head of the Council, under the title of
Minister of State; Casabianca lapsing into the post of
Senator, with a salary of 30,000 francs. The official
departments are filled by Bineau, Finance; Magne,
Public Works; Drouyn de l'Huys, Foreign Affairs;
Ducos, Marine; Abbatucci, Justice; Fortoul, Instruction;
Persigny, Interior; St. Arnaud, War; Maupas,
Police. Three members of the Council of State have
"resigned" their posts—in other words, have been
dismissed, because they opposed the government on the
Orleans confiscation question. Their names are Maillard,
Cornudet, and Reverchon. Their successors are
notable men: M. de Cormenin, who under the name of
"Timon" was a scourge to the Orleans dynasty; and
M. Persil, formerly an Orleans Minister. The other
changes are unimportant—except that M. Giraud,
formerly Minister of Public Instruction, has succeeded
the late M. Eugéne Burnouf as Inspector of Superior
Instruction.

A great fête has been given by the President;
Sunday, the 15th of August, the fête-day of the
Emperor Napoleon, having been chosen for the occasion.
The guns of the Invalides opened the ceremony of the
day by firing an imperial salute; and the national
guards, whose standards were to be blessed and distributed,
began to assemble about seven o'clock. They
drew up in line, three deep; one wing resting on the
Place de la Madeleine, and the other on the Porte
Maillot of the Bois de Boulogne. Soon after eight
o'clock, the Judges of the Court of Cassation arrived at
the Madeleine, and for above an hour there was a
succession of visitors—soldiers, diplomatists, officers of state,
ministers, and members of the Institute; all decked out
in ceremonial trappings. The coming of M. Bonaparte
was announced by the advanced guard of the Guides,
a handsome regiment, who were loudly cheered. These
were followed by lancers, carbineers, and cavalry of the
national guard, forming the escort of the President.
On the steps of the church, M. Bonaparte was received
by a body of general officers, who stood bareheaded.
He was led to his place near the altar by the
archbishop of Paris and the curé of the Madeleine, and this
priest took occasion to remind him that it was the fête
of the Assumption of the Virgin as well as of the
Emperor. M. Bonaparte is said to have replied, that
he placed himself under the protection of the Virgin
and the "Genius" of the Emperor. High mass was
celebrated by the archbishop; the ensigns of the
national guards were blessed, sprinkled with holy
water, and sent out to be distributed to the troops.
The clerical ceremonies were over by half-past ten
o'clock. M. Bonaparte mounted his horse at the steps
of the Madeleine, and rode up the front and down the
rear of the guards, saluting the eagles, which were
lowered as he passed. He then placed himself at the
Pont Tournant of the garden of the Tuileries, and sat
quietly for two hours while the guards defiled before
him. When this was finished, he galloped off to the
Elysée. Different accounts are given as to the intensity
of the cries; but the general opinion in Paris appears to
have been that the President did not receive as warm a
greeting as might have been expected from a body
of men selected by the government itself. The
weather was very unfavourable throughout the ceremony.
The great attraction of the day was the
mock naval combat on the Seine. All the other
entertainments have been seen over and over again
in former years, but the greater part of the Parisians
never in their lives saw a three-masted ship. For
at least two hours before the appointed time the
stream of population flowed towards the scene of action.
A frigate from Cherbourg, the Ville de Paris, was
anchored in the middle of the river between the Pont
des Invalides and the Pont de Jéna. The stand for the
President of the Republic was erected on the Champs
de Mars side of the river, and on either side of it,
extending to a considerable distance, were platforms
containing reserved seats for invited guests. The whole
length of the quays, from the Pont de la Concorde to the
Pont de Jéna, was thickly crowded with anxious
spectators, of whom not one in a hundred could see any
part of the sight. Shortly after four o'clock the President
of the Republic, attended by his household and the grand
dignitaries of state, arrived at the grand stand. Great
bustle then prevailed, both on shore and on the river.
Boats with naval officers pushed rapidly to and from the
frigate, bearing orders. It was not till half an hour
after the President's arrival that the preliminaries of
the battle commenced. A boat put off from the Areas
steamer, which was stationed near the Pont de Jéna,
and reconnoitred the position of the frigate. This was
an easy operation, for the frigate, to the great
disappointment of multitudes, remained close reefed in an
inoffensive attitude at her moorings, where she had
been for several days past. The frigate fired a gun at
the boat, which instantly retreated, pouring a sharp fire
of musketry into the frigate. Upon this, about twenty
small boats, with soldiers and sailors on board, left the
Areas, and proceeding towards the frigate, attempted to
board her. Two forts upon the banks of the river
supported this manoeuvre by a tremendous cannonading,
which enveloped the whole mise en scene in a vast
cloud of smoke. The rest of the battle can only be
described as a long succession of clouds of smoke, and
deafening peals of artillery. A general impresion
prevailed that the frigate was to spread her sails and
manoeuvre, but she remained motionless on account of
the want of water in the river. The exhibition was,
indeed, as little like a sea-fight as possible. In the
evening, there was to have been a grand ball to the
"Dames de la Halle," or market-women, with whom
the President is a great favourite; but it was postponed,
to their great disappointment and indignation. It took
place, however, on Tuesday evening, but turned out a
failure. The crowd was tremendous, and of a most
motley description, the heat being almost unbearable.
It was nearly half-an-hour's work to get from one end
of the ball-room to the other, so terrible was the crush.
The rain came down in torrents, and penetrated through
the roof, forcing the guests in some places to hold up
umbrellas. Very few functionaries were present; there
were scarcely any refreshments; and, finally, the
President of the Republic did not attend. Various
causes are assigned for it. The friends of the Elysée
declare that it was the heavy rain which fell about ten
o'clock that prevented his going out. It is believed,
however, that the real cause was, that the Ministers
were decidedly opposed to his risking his person in the
midst of a close crowd of nearly 20,000 guests of every
description. The effect of this absence, however,
amongst the lower classes, is certainly unfavourable
to the President, as they say that if he did not intend
to meet his guests he ought not to have invited them.
Nothing else but this matter was spoken of the next day
at the Halle; and the President's want of politeness was
freely commented on. The names of all the distinguished
persons who condescended to dance with partners of low
degree in the quadrille of honour, at the ball of the Halle,
has been carefully chronicled, and the list is curious. M. de
Persigny, Minister of the Interior, danced with Madame