The President of the French Republic has lately been
busy with great Reviews and other Military Pageants,
entertaining the officers with handsome collations and
abundance of champagne, and the soldiers with liberal
distributions of rations. One of these took place on the
3rd, when the President reviewed a great body of troops
on the Plaine de Satory near Versailles. He was
accompanied by the Minister of War, and by General
Roguet, his aide-de-camp. General Changarnier left
Paris an hour before the President. Though entitled to
take the command he did not do so. General Neumayer
acting in his room. After the review the President gave
a collation to the officers and non-commissioned officers,
and ordered 13,000 rations to be distributed to the
soldiers. The President joined the collation given to the
general officers, but General Changarnier declined being
present, and returned to Paris, when the other general
officers adjourned to the déjeûner. The frequency of
these reviews, the manner in which the troops were
fêtés by the President, the manifestations made by the
soldiers, and the rumour that a difference of opinion
existed between the President and General Changarnier
on the subject, led to an extraordinary meeting of the
Commission of Permanence. The Minister of War,
General Hautpoul, having been called on to explain the
circumstances with reference to the late reviews, replied
that he wished to inform the commission that he
held no command from the Assembly, and that
consequently, he could deny the right of the commission
to put any questions to him. He, however, waved these
objections; and in reply to the question, said that the
accounts published in the papers respecting the reviews
were grossly exaggerated; and that nothing whatever
had occurred there of an unconstitutional or an unmilitary
character. The commission heard the General's
explanation in perfect silence; nor did any discussion
whatever take place. The Minister further observed
that it would be impossible to publish an order of the day
preventing the soldiers from expressing their feelings of
attachment and respect to the chief of the State, and if
it were possible he would not do so. With respect to the
review that was to take place on the following Thursday,
he pledged himself for the maintenance of the most
complete tranquillity on that occasion. When the
commission was about to separate, the president again
addressed the Minister of War, and said, "General
Hautpoul, I am desired by the committee to apprise you
that in case General Changarnier be removed from his
command, or that any other steps be taken against him,
we are determined to convoke, forthwith, the Legislative
Assembly." To this the Minister made no reply, and
the commission adjourned. On Thursday the 10th, the
review referred to by the Minister of War, took place on
the Plaine de Satory. There were 25,000 troops, chiefly
cavalry. The President was accompanied by General
Hautpoul, the Minister of War, and several other general
officers, besides his usual brilliant staff. On his way
from the Palace of Versailles to the plain of Satory, the
streets through which he passed were densely crowded,
and he was loudly cheered by the people; but the
greatest portion of the cries were " Vive le President!"
with only a slight sprinkling of cries of " Vive Napoleon!"
and " Vive la Republique!" General Changarnier was
on the ground about half an hour before the arrival of
the President. When the defiling of the troops in front
of the President took place, the infantry passed without
uttering a single cry. The cavalry followed, the van
being led by the carabineers. The whole of the first
regiment of carabineers, in passing the President,
cheered with immense enthusiasm, and a great majority
of them cried "Vive I'Empereur!" "Vive Napoleon!"
The three other regiments of carabineers also cheered,
but not with so much enthusiasm as the first. There
were, however, a considerable number of cries of "Vive
I'Empereur!" The regiments which followed were two
fine regiments of heavy dragoons. They passed without
uttering a single cry, although the colonel of one of
them encouraged his men by crying "Vive I'Empereur!"
at the pitch of his voice. In the light cavalry regiments
there was very little cheering, and the only cry uttered
was "Vive Napoleon!" "Vive le President!" After
the troops had defiled, the usual refreshments were
served out to them, and the President, accompanied by
his staff, paid a visit to the camp, but General Changarnier
left the ground.

The Proces-verbal of the meeting of the Council of
Permanence, held on the 12th, drawn up by M. Dupin
to the President, was to the following effect:—The
violation of the promises made by the Minister of War,
and the unconstitutional manifestations, provoked or
tolerated, are severely blamed. The committee did not
think proper to invite the Minister of War to give
further explanations. Deploring the incidents of the
review, it still expressed complete confidence in the
loyalty of the army, and is satisfied that the cries were
not spontaneous on the part of the soldiers, but instigated
by certain officers. In order to avoid alarming the
country in the absence of imminent peril, it has not
deemed proper to convoke the Assembly; but it
deeply disapproves reviews so frequent, into which
habits altogether unusual and foreign to military
traditions have been so boldly introduced.

As a sequel to these disputes. General Hautpoul has
found it necessary to resign his place in the government,
and has gone to Algeria as Governor of that colony.
He is succeeded as Minister of War by General Schramm.
General Changarnier has forbidden all Buonapartist
papers to be admitted into the barracks, and among
others the Pays, a paper which was exclusively directed
to the troops, and which was the most zealous advocate
for the restoration of the Empire.

The government having lately received intelligence
that A Clandestine Manufactory of Gunpowder on an
extensive scale existed at Pouzin, in the department of
the Ardeche, in the house of a man named Soubeyran,
who was remarkable for much energy of character
and desperate courage, an expedition was planned to
capture him, and seize the gunpowder. A strong
detachment of horse-artillery and four companies of the
line, left Valence under the commandant of the place.
At five in the morning they arrived at Soubeyran's door,
and summoned him to come forth and surrender himself.
No answer was made; a noise was heard inside as of
the loading of a gun, and the ringing of a steel ramrod
in the barrel. After some minutes, and when the
Prefect was about to repeat his summons, the door was
suddenly flung open, and Soubeyran, in his shirt-sleeves,
a red silk handkerchief twisted round his head, his
throat bare, and with sandals on his feet, presented
himself before them. One hand grasped a blunderbuss,
the other was extended forward. He evidently did not
expect to see so many prepared to prevent his escape,
and his surprise made him hesitate a moment. The
Prefect rushed at him, seized with one hand the arm
which held the blunderbuss, and with the other put a
pistol to his temples, again summoning him to surrender.
The soldiers were advancing, when Soubeyran by a
sudden and violent movement freed himself from the
grasp which held him, leaped over a table and some
chairs, burst through a door, reached a window which
hung over the water, and bursting through it, dashed
into the Rhône and disappeared amidst its waves. The
troops who were stationed outside ran at once to the
bridge, and twenty or thirty of the horsemen were in a
moment on the opposite side, while others lined the
near bank. Once or twice the end of the red handkerchief
which bound the outlaw's head was seen in the
uncertain light of daybreak on the surface of the water;
but Soubeyran himself was never seen more. The
troops watched long on both banks of the river, expecting
in vain to see him attempt to land—it was all useless.
It is not known whether he perished in the dangerous
current that shoots between the arches of the bridge, or
whether he was able, by swimming for a considerable
time under water, to find shelter in the hollow of the
rocks that in that part hang over the stream; at all
events, dead or alive, he has not since been heard of.

The Queen of the Belgians died on the morning of
Friday, the 11th. She had laboured for two years under
an affection of the lungs and a tendency to dropsical
consumption, and grief for her father's death appears to
have aggravated her complaints, and led to their fatal
termination. She died with pious resignation, and though
in extreme pain, was able to console her afflicted husband.