NARRATIVE OF FOREIGN EVENTS.

The most important intelligence from France is the
promulgation of the new law of the press. The following
are its principal provisions:—

"Journals and periodicals treating of political matter or social
economy cannot be published without previous authorisation of
the Government, which can only be accorded to a born Frenchman.
The same authorisation applies equally to the directors,
writers, proprietors, and administrators of the paper; and no
change can be allowed in the personnel of the paper without
express leave of the Government.

"Journals published in foreign countries can only circulate
in France by virtue of an authorisation of Government; and
those who act as introducers or distributors of foreign journals
not authorised, become subject to imprisonment of from one
month to a year, and a fine of from 100 francs to 5000 francs.

"The caution-money of a daily journal is 50,000 francs: of a
three-days-a-week, 30,000 francs. In towns of 50,000 inhabitants,
25,000 francs; below that number, 15,000 francs. A publication
appearing without authority or caution-money will be fined
from 100 francs to 2000 francs each number, with imprisonment
from one month to two years of the offending parties, with abolition
of the paper. The printer will be held equally responsible
with the publisher.

"Papers of a certain size, 72 decimetres square, and periodical
sets of prints, are to be stamped 6 cents each sheet in the departments
of the Seine and the Seine et Oise, and 3 cents elsewhere.
Political and social economy writings, not periodical, are to be
taxed 5 cents a sheet not exceeding 10 decimetres square; and
this is applicable to such writings published abroad when
introduced into France.

"Foreign journals are to pay like stamp-duty, except there
should be diplomatic conventions standing in the way of the
regulation.

"Reports of the proceedings of the Senate are interdicted;
but leave is given to copy the articles of the official journal.
The same rule applies to sittings of the Council of State with
closed doors. Reports of trials of offences by the press are
interdicted. The courts of law may equally forbid publication
of trials.

"Prints, engravings, medals, &c., must be authorised by the
police. Booksellers must take out licenses, under penalty of
two years' imprisonment and closing of establishment.

"Offences by the press are no longer to be tried by the Assize
Courts (meaning judge and jury), but by the Correctional
Police.

"One condemnation for crime, or two for contraventions of
the law within two years, cause the suspension of the journal.

"The Government may suspend any journal after two
warnings, and for a period not exceeding two months.

"The President of the Republic may by decree suspend any
journal."

It is stated that a note has been received from the
Emperor of Russia, expressing the distrust which he
has felt on being informed of the decrees substituting
the imperial eagle for the Gallic cock on the standards
of the republic, placing the effigy of the President on
the coins, and transferring the residence of the President
to the Tuileries. The Emperor sees in these acts
preliminaries of an imperial restoration, and of the foundation
of a new dynasty, which he cannot countenance.
When the arrival of the note or message was notified to
M. Bonaparte at the Elysée, he is said to have been
much chagrined: he presently had an interview with
the Russian representative, to whom he gave formal
explanations and assurances, disclaiming the ambitious
projects imputed to him.

M. Bocher, one of the executors of Louis Philippe,
has been arrested at Paris, in consequence, it is said, of
information communicated to the government by the
sub-prefect of the Avranches, one of the arrondissements
of the department of the Manche. That functionary is
stated to have discovered and seized several parcels of
documents consisting of addresses to the French nation,
proclamations to the army, and copious extracts
translated into French from the English papers that have
censured the acts of the President and his government,
and it is further alleged that these and other papers
were transmitted to France on behalf of the princes of
the Orleans family. The new Electoral Law has been
published. Each department is to return one deputy
for every 35,000 electors, and one more in case of the
number exceeding 25,000. The suffrage is direct and
universal, and the scrutin secret. All Frenchmen of
twenty-one years of age, in possession of civil and
political rights, are electors, and all electors of twenty-five
years old are eligible. A special law will regulate the
mode of voting of the army for the election of the
President. The number of deputies is to be 261. The
Electoral College will meet on a Sunday or a festival day
if possible. No armed force can, without the authority
of the Electoral College, be present at the sittings, or
near the place where the Assembly meets. The
Electoral Colleges are convened for the 29th instant.

The Duchess of Orleans has addressed the following
letter to the President, refusing the dotation of 300,000
francs per annum, maintained to her in the decree of
January 22:—"Monsieur,—As I do not acknowledge
your right to plunder my family, neither do I acknowledge
your right to assign to me a dotation in the
name of France. I refuse the dowry.—HELENA
D'ORLEANS."

When Lord Normanby was in Paris to take leave of the
President, a whole army of tradesmen presented bills to
the amount of upwards of £3000. The Marchioness of
Normanby, to whom they desired to speak, answered
their demand by showing account books, from which it
appeared that all the bills had been paid at the end of
the year with the customary regularity of the
embassy. It turned out that his excellency's maitre d'hôtel,
an Italian named Salvator, had embezzled the money
with which he had been entrusted to pay the tradesmen.
It is said that he admitted the fact, alleging as
an excuse that he had been gambling at the Bourse.
Lord Normanby wished not to prosecute the man, but
the police heard of the story, and have arrested him.

An Attempt was made upon the Life of the Queen of
Spain, at Madrid, on the 2nd inst., the day on which
she was to go in solemn procession to the church of
Atocha, to present the infant Princess Royal to "Our
Lady of Atocha." Her Majesty had just heard the
mass of childbirth (mesa de parida) in the Chapel
Royal, and was proceeding along the principal gallery
towards the great staircase, when her progress was
arrested by a priest who, kneeling, presented a memorial.
Her Majesty, believing that he wished to present
a memorial or petition, held out her hand to take it,
but, instead of a paper, he suddenly drew forth a knife
from beneath the folds of his robe, and made a stab at
her side immediately above the hip. From the position
of her arm, the deed was fortunately but half done; the
arm was wounded, and the knife entered under the rib
about an inch. The weapon struck her on the front
part of the right side, penetrating through several folds
of her mantle of velvet and gold, and cutting through
the stays, the whalebone of which diminished the effect
of the blow. The assassin, at the moment of striking,
exclaimed "Toma, ya tienes bastante!" (Take it: you
have now got enough!) The Queen's first thought was
for her child. "Mi nina!" she exclaimed: "Que
cuidan á Isabel!" (My child!—let them take care of
Isabel!) She then leaned against the wall, and placed
her hand on her side, which was covered with blood.
At the same moment Count Pino-Hermoso rushed up
in time to parry a second blow, and had his fingers
almost cut off. The Princess Royal was between her
Majesty and the King, carried on a cushion by the
Marchioness de Povar. On hearing the Queen's cry,
this lady's nerves failed her, the royal infant slipped off
the cushion and fell to the ground! The nurse who
followed was pressed upon by the crowd, and sank
down in a corner in a fainting fit. When the Queen,
after being carried to her room, asked for her child, it
is said that nobody about her knew where the infant
was, and that it was afterwards found in the gallery in
the arms of a halberdier, who had picked the poor thing
up. At the time the attempt was made, the ministers
were all at the church of Atocha, waiting for the arrival
of their Majesties and the royal family. The assassin,
Martin Merino, was a native of Arnedo, province of