dialects of the British Isles greeted the painful explorer
of this resplendent crowd. The President made his
appearance at twelve, in the Salle des Maréchaux,
coming from the Pavillon Marsan. He was dressed in
the uniform of a lieutenant-general of the line, and
wore the grand cordon and the crachat of the Legion
of Honour. He had a rosette of the same order attached
to his sword-hilt, and in his button-hole the little plain
decoration which was always worn by the Emperor, and
sometimes given away as a mark of high personal
distinction. The President's face looked worn, and his
eyes fatigued, but he forced an appearance of gaiety.
The Princess Mathilde, who stood by him, and wore a
superb diadem of brilliants, laughed incessantly, as if in
the highest spirits. The President was attended by
the Minister of War, General Saint Arnaud; General
Roguet, his head aid-de-camp; Dr. Conneau, his
physician; and a numerous and brilliant staff followed.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Douglas, the former in
his splendid Highland costume, appeared beside the
Princess Mathilde. After remaining a quarter of an
hour, the President retired with his suite to the small
apartments of the Pavillon Marsan, where what may be
styled his court were gathered.

The emperor of Austria, by a series of decrees
published on the 1st of January, has formally annulled the
Constitution of March 1849, and has promulgated certain
fundamental principles of the future organic institutions
of the empire. By this projet, the Crown lands are
parcelled out into districts and circles as before, governed
by officials, who are appointed by Ministers, and
subordinate to the Stadtholders. The communes in town
and country are still allowed, in name, to choose their
own mayors; but the elections must be confirmed by
government, which reserves to itself the power of
approving them. The communes thus formed have
only to take cognizance of their own local matters. The
great nobles and landed proprietors, and the country
gentry, will be admitted to the consultations of the
Stadtholders and presidents of circles; the sphere and
object of their co-operations to be clearly defined
afterwards. Every vestige of the parliamentary system has
been carefully kept out of sight in this new scheme for
governing the Imperial territories; not even the
provincial Landstande being reinstated. The publicity of
governmental or communal proceedings is no longer
tolerated. The department of justice is to be kept
distinct from that of the administration. Open courts and
trial by jury are abolished.

Some serious disturbances have taken place in Spain.
Some time before the Queen's accouchement, it was
officially announced that bountiful largesse would be
distributed to the private soldiers of the army, along
with the promotions for officers. But when the Gazette
of the 7th instant appeared there was no mention of
largesse, and it proved that the Treasury was not in
condition to disburse any. Several of the regiments
broke into such excesses that the officers were obliged
to invest them by other regiments; shots were actually
exchanged before the rioters were captured. On the
8th, the men seized were tried by court-martial, and on
the 9th three of the men condemned were shot. It is
said that the discontent of the troops had been fomented
by emissaries.

A decree has been issued, destroying the little that
remained of the liberty of the press. Newspapers which
publish alarming news are to be subject to the penalties
of the 35th article of the decree of 1844. These penalties
are to extend to all periodicals or publications
which in censuring the official acts of the constituted
authorities, make use of words that imply disrespect to
the same. If within twelve hours after the seizure of a
newspaper, the editor or responsible person should
solicit that the newspaper should not be prosecuted, it
will not be prosecuted, but the number seized will not
be allowed to circulate. All newspapers or publications
in which the dignity of the king or queen, or any of the
royal family, be called in question, or in which religion
or the priesthood be attacked, or which offend public
morals, or which, without the permission of the party
interested, publish facts relative to his or her private
life, and which have no bearing upon public affairs, are
to be seized. When any periodical has been condemned
three times, the minister can suppress the said periodical
or suspend it at the royal pleasure. The government
is preparing a law for the diminishing the number
of deputies in the chamber, and changing the mode of
election.

Accounts from Florence describe the maltreatment of
a British subject by the Austrian military. Mr. Erskine
Mather, a young Irishman, was listening to the band of
an Austrian regiment that was relieving guard at the
Pitti Palace, and as the troops marched off he
accompanied them to continue in hearing of the music. To
avoid a cart in a narrow street, he walked between the
band and the head of the column. As he was walking
he received a blow from the flat of a sabre, and turning
round indignantly, he found that the officer of the
column had taken that polite means to admonish him
that he must not keep his place. Remonstrating, in as
good Italian as he could utter, he was insulted by
threatening gestures; and becoming energetic in
manner, another officer stepped forward and struck him
down with an edge blow on the head. His hat was cut
through, and a deep wound was given him through the
scalp to the bone of the skull. Mr. Mather called on
his brother to dog the officers to their station, if he
himself should be left to die on the pavement: the
brother obeyed, and the inhabitants conveyed the
wounded young man to the hospital of Santa Maria
Nuova. Numbers of bystanders witnessed the atrocious
conduct of the officers. Our Secretary of Legation,
Mr. Scarlet, has applied for redress both to the Tuscan
Government and to the Prince Lichtenstein, the
Austrian commandment of the Grand Duchy.

Accounts from Leghorn of the 20th ult. states that
Henry Stratford, calling himself Lord Aldborough, and
his brother Edward Stratford, have been condemned
to death by the court-martial, upon the charge of
conspiracy to overturn the government, and the unlawful
possession of arms. The third brother, Charles Stratford,
has been sentenced to a year's imprisonment in
chains. But the punishment has in each case been
commuted. Henry Stratford is to suffer ten years'
imprisonment. Edward Stratford six years', and Charles
Stratford has been set at liberty, the imprisonment
previous to his trial being reckoned a sufficient
punishment.

Accounts have been received from our slave squadron
on the Coast of Guinea, of an attack on the Negro
King of Lagos, whose possessions skirt the Bight of
Benin. This potentate, Coreioco by name, had
forbidden the men-of-war boats from coming up the river
to Lagos; but previously Mr. Beecroft, the Consul at
Fernando Po, with the commanders of the Harlequin
and Waterwitch, and Lieutenant Patey, the
commander of the Bloodhound steam-tender, had been
received by the King with every demonstration of
respect. They, however, failed in their object to
engage the King to promise on the part of himself and
subjects not to favour the slave-trade. Mr. Beecroft
determined on seeking another interview with the
King; and in order to show his sable majesty the
hopelessness of any successful resistance in carrying on the
traffic, arranged that the armed boats of the squadron
should accompany him up the river under a flag of
truce. Accordingly, the slave squadron fitted out
twenty-three boats with an armed force of two hundred
and sixty officers and men, and sent them in towards
the river, accompanied by the Niger screw-sloop and
the Bloodhound steam-tender. When within about
a mile and a half of the town the Bloodhound grounded;
and, as she could not be got off, the boats formed line
and proceeded up the river, and kept on, with the flag
of truce flying, until they received a heavy fire from
some guns and musketry on shore. The fire was
harmless, on account of the distance; but now the boats
opened their fire with shrapnel shells and round shot,
the Niger at the same time throwing a shell or two on
the point near the mouth of the river. After
exchanging a continuous fire for nearly an hour with a