On the came day a decree was issued, calling upon
the French people to "accept or reject" the above
Senatus-Consultum on the 21st and 22nd inst.; and the
Legislative body at the same time was convoked for the
25th inst., "to certify the regularity of the votes, cast
them up, and declare the result." The vote by ballot
was accordingly taken, in the metropolis and throughout
France, on Sunday and Monday, the 21st and 22nd.
The declaration of the result has not yet been received;
but the majority appears to be even greater than that of
the 20th of December.

A political refugee, named Barral, from Avenières
(Ain), was arrested at Chamborg on the 17th under
curious circumstances. He arrived, as a traveller, at
the Hotel du Petit Marseille, and having engaged a
room, desired that great care might be taken to keep
the door closed while he went out for a short time. He
expected, he said, a person to ask for him, and would
pay for whatever refreshments might be served to his
friend. As he was about to leave the house a police
commissioner, attended by several carabineers, arrested
him. His room was searched, and 200 copies of
"Napoleon the Little," and five packets of gunpowder
were found.

Complete tranquillity prevails in every part of Franoe.

The Grand Duke of Tuscany has expelled from his
dominions all the Lombard, Roman, and Neapolitan
refugees. About one thousand individuals, but slightly,
if at all, compromised in the political troubles of their
own states, or they would not have been permitted by
Austria to remain here from 1849 to the present time,
have received an order to quit Tuscany within five days.
Some among them are men of rank and fortune, whose
expenditure, added to that of their fellow-countrymen,
has been of late the chief support of the rapidly
decaying trade of Florence.

The Earl of Roden, the head of the deputation to the
Grand Duke of Tuscany to intercede for the release of
the Madiais, has communicated to Lord Shaftesbury, in
a letter dated the 26th ult., the failure of the mission.
Having addressed a letter to the Duke of Castigliano,
the Tuscan Minister for Foreign Affairs, praying to be
admitted to an audience by the Grand Duke, the
deputation received the following negative reply:—

"His Imperial and Royal Highness, while appreciating the
course you have adapted in this matter, would certainly have
repelled any political pressure whatever, and the honourable
diplomatic agents resident at this Court would have been careful
to avoid it. The Madiais (man and wife), Tuscan subjects, to
whom you refer, have been condemned to five years imprisonment
by the ordinary tribunals for the crime of propagating
Protestantism, which is proscribed by our laws as an attack
upon the religion of the State. Their punishment is the
application of these laws, and their appeal for a reversal of their
sentence has been rejected by the Court of Cassation. His Imperial
and Royal Highness, in reserving to himself the exercise of his
high prerogative in such cases and at such times as he may
judge right, cannot admit any interposition in a case which
concerns the administration of justice in his States and his acts
towards his own subjects. My august Sovereign, recognising
the benevolent sentiments by which you have been actuated,
but not considering it necessary to listen to any kind of
intervention on this subject, commands me to inform you, my lord,
that he regrets being unable to grant the audience solicited by
you and the other gentlemen who have signed the letter which
has been addressed to me."

Lord Roden, in communicating this answer to Lord
Shaftesbury, says:—

"We feel that the substance of this answer is such as to
induce us to hope that although our immediate request has been
denied, yet that it is the intention of his Imperial and Royal
Highness to extend his pardon to the Madiais at no distant
period. We therefore think it would be imprudent in us to take
any further step at the present time, except to send to the Duke
of Castigliano a copy of our intended address to his Imperial
and Royal Highness, had he favoured us with an audience. It
is our intention to ask the leave of the Tuscan Government to
visit the prisoners at Volterra and at Lucca, and I hope, on our
return to England, we shall be able to give you, and those whose
delegates we are, every information with respect to the circumstances
in which the Madiais are placed, and the hopes which
we entertain for their speedy release."

The executions at Ancona, on the 25th ult., may he
reckoned amongst the must appalling ever witnessed.
Only one of the culprits out of the nine would listen to
the exhortations of the priests. When it was found
that the other eight were hopelessly recusant, they were
allowed to intoxicate themselves with rum. The
shooting of them was entrusted to a detachment of
Roman artillerymen, armed with short carbines, old-
fashioned weapons, many of which missed fire, so that
at the first discharge some of the prisoners did not fall,
but ran off, with the soldiers pursuing and firing at
them repeatedly; others crawled about, and one wretch,
after being considered dead, made a violent exertion to
get up, rendering a final coup de grace necessary.

The two chambers of the Sardinian Parliament met
on the 19th inst. The Senate, after organising its
standing committees, heard the report on the sanitary
international convention, which is to be discussed on the
25th. The Chamber of Deputies discussed and adopted
a project of law relative to the sale of national property
in Sardinia, but, the number of members present at the
close not being sufficient to validate the vote, the ballot
was postponed to the next day. M. Massimo d'Azeglio
had taken his seat in the centre, the benches of which
were nearly all occupied. The members of the right
were at their posts, but many of the left and left centre
oppositions were absent.

There are advices from New York to the 13th inst.
The only important articles of intelligence are the death of
the celebrated statesman Daniel Webster, and the election
of General Franklin Pierce, the democratic candidate,
to the Presidency. Mr. Webster died at his house at
Marshfield on the 24th of October. He was buried on
the 29th in the private grounds of Marshfield. His
friends in great numbers attended the funeral. Before
the body was carried to the grave, it was placed in an
open coffin, on a bier beneath one of the large poplar
trees on the lawn; and thousands pressed around to
take a last look at the face of the departed. Two
garlands of oak leaves and acorns, and two bunches of
flowers, were laid upon the coffin. It was closed, and
borne to the grave; the burial service was read by the
village pastor, and at half-past two the earth covered
the remains. Ten thousand persons attended the
funeral. Among them were General Franklin Pierce,
Governor Marcy of New York, Mr. Edward Everett,
Mr. Abbott Lawrence, Governor Boutwell of Massachusetts.
Mr. Secretary Conrad (alone of the Fillmore
Cabinet), and Judge Sprague. Funeral commemorations
have taken place throughout the States of the Union.
The Presidential election took place on the 2nd instant;
and at the same time the Hon. W. H. King was elected
Vice-President. Mr. Everett, formerly ambassador to
England, has been appointed Secretary of State,

From New Orleans information has been received
that 600 of the National Guard at Matamoras recently
revolted and fled to the American side. After organising
they returned and gave battle to 1500 of the Mexican
troops under General Avalos, whom they defeated, and
compelled to beat a hasty retreat to Matamoras.

There are accounts from California to the 20th ult.
Gold in immense quantities still continues to flow into
San Francisco, as the great shipments from that place
to the Atlantic seem to indicate. The steamer Oregon,
which sailed on the 16th of October, had as freight the
enormous amount of 2,406,712 dols. in gold dust, being
the largest shipment which ever left San Francisco in
one vessel. The Illinois brought nearly 2,000,000 dols.

The latest advices from Mexico describe that country
as being in a convulsed state. Revolutionary schemes
were in progress in all directions; the government was
trembling in the terrible excitement of the people, and
what was worse than all, a French squadron was daily
expected at Vera Cruz to support the demand for
payment of the French creditors, and a Spanish man-of-war
was also looked for at San Francisco to enforce the
paymert of the debts due to the government of her Catholic
Majesty. Everything seems to indicate that the Mexican
States are about dropping to pieces, and that the United
States should be ready to receive them, one by one, as
they become detached from the main stem.