FRANCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 657, 23 February 1859, Page 3

FRANCE.

; The religious circles in France have been excited iby a controversy with'regard to the abduction of a iJewish child, a native of Bologna, named: Mortara, jwho has for some time been in prison at the holy jofflce in Rome, because he was clandestinely, bapitised by a Papal servant woman. The youth was itaken by force from his parents by the papal authorities, and "for the good of his soul" is still a priisoner in the hands pf the priests. The zeal of the authorities in tearing the child from his Israelite :parents has got tlie Pope and .the Roman government into much difficulty, which they no doubt would have willingly avoided. But once having re■ceived the child into the holy office as a baptised Christian; the authorities declare that neither the Pope uor any. other power can give up the young Jew. Pius IX. : permits the father of Mortara to visit' his' son; is very kind to him; but has no power to liberate the Jew, because the servant maid with dirty hands has anointed him a Christian and the police put him in prison. The French journals have taken up the question with an amount of which has obliged the imperial government to make representations1 td the Vatican praying for the release of the Israelite. Frenchmen say.:—"Have we 10,000 French soldiers in the Roman States to support a government which sane-

tions the division of a child from his parents under such tyrannical circumstances?" The ultramontane 'Univers,' however, justifies the abduction; and it ia understood that a great' body of the French clergy are prepared to do the same. But the Abbe Delacoutre, of Paris, has deemed it his duty to protest to the Pope against the iicC '" .

One of the murderers of Pechard, a watchmaker of 'Caen, was a Jew, named Gugehhim, who, being allowedthe benefit of" extenuating circumstances," was sentenced toimprisonment with hard labour for

life. This man had several illegitimate children by a Jewish mistress, who was also found guilty as a participant: in \ the murder, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. When the\ parents .were arrested, the Prefect, of Calvados, according, as it appears, to the custom in sucli'.circumstanced,.sent the children, all very young, to th&Hospice of Caen/ The' Sistersi of "Charity'a'titaclied to: tiiatiestablisli-! merit, made'them ledrh' the Christian 'Ca'tecliismi'and1 h<Hd!them baptised.1 ;Mi'lsidore, the Grand Ribbiof; Paris, lately claimed the children; in- order- to have'

ihcm _ educated as Jews, but the Sisters, who were very proud of their converts, strongly objected to give them up. [Letters from Rome state that the Pope "has resolved to modify the existing regulations relative to the baptism of Jewish children"-] 1 A very delicate question of difference is stated by a Paris correspondent of. the 'Continental Keviow' to hayc occurred between Cardinal Morlot, Archbishop of Paris, and the Pope. A personage of distinction in Parisian society lately married a young lady, of rank, connected with a distinguished family of- the Faubourg St. Germain. At the end of some months, the; family of the lady solicited from Cardinal Marlot a dissolution of the religious tie, with which the cardinal, pleading the obstacles opposed by the civil contract, refused to comply. The family appealed to the Pope, who wrote to the archbishop to break the marriage. The archbishop refuses compliance, and the matter lies there. . There was not a particle of truth in the telegraphic message about the Te'tuan Massacre, or the murder of the French and Spanish or English Vice-Consuls! An immense revolution has been effected lately in the Quartier Latin of Paris. Those who in former times have crossed the Pont Neuf after midnight, and proceeded''along; the Hue Dauphine to the Odeon Theatre and the neighbourhood of the Luxembourg, cannot fail to have noticed that, while.in other parts of the town all houses of public entertainment were closed, in this joyous district the gas burned brilliantly before restaurants, cafes, and beer-shop 3, and that all was life and animation till two or three'in. the morning. These privileged houses were the resort of the students and their mistresses, It was an accusation against the government of Louis Phillippe by his unscrupulous enemies that he wished to sap the health and manly spirit of the youth of France by encouraging them in.these nocturnal debauches. Subsequently it has been considered, apart from any such diabolical intentions, good policy to allow the youug men, who it is assuinedwill holdnocturrial revels in some way or other, to meet in public where they can be watched by the police. The other night, however, to the consternation of the whole quarter, an order was given and acted upon" that all these houses should be closed at ,12 o'clock. [We shall probably hear a great deal jiore of this matter. Whether for good or for evil, the change is nothing less than a social revolution.] The new legislation on the usurpation of titles in France has necessitated the re-establishment of an old French monarchical institution, called a council, destined to examine and testify the validity oftitles. : J

; A Paris correspondent of the 'Nord' states that numerous French missionaries, men and women, have left during the last few months. Ten members of the society of Mary have left for New Caledonia; a bishop and ten members of the same society, for the' Oceanic missions; 31 members of the Society of Picpus; for Tahiti, Sandwich Islands, Valparaiso, Santiago, Lima, &c.;'two monks and two nuns for North; America; and 21 priests of the Society of Foreign Missions for China. The'invitations to Compiegne, whither the French court recently proceeded, are-very numerous. They includeup wards of 20 English' people,s among whom are Lord and Lady Palmerston, Lord and Lady Clarendon, the, Marquis pf Hertford, Lord and Lady Craven, and Lord Alfred Paget. It is announced that a council of ministers will be held there once a week. ■ ■ ■ . ,

It is authoratively stated that Napoleon 111. is taking steps'to carry into execution a favourite plan ; .of. Napoleon 1., for laying iipi stores of- cbrn,; after theinknner of. the Pharaohs, in everylarge town, during plentiful years, in order to provide against years of scarcity. ,The protectionists like this plan, which they think will secure theni altogether against foreign' importations. ■ "

TheVFrerich government is gradually introducing and establishing European; principles of law into Algeria, to .the. exclusion ..of, those drawn from MahOmedanismy which'have so long prevailed. According7 to a-decree just promulgated, no sale or transfer of landed- property in! Algeria consented to by a native for the benefit of a European can in future be attacked, on the ground that the sale of such property was prohibited by the Mussulman law. Heretoforfe, in many' instances, property has been sold, and," after "it has /uridergone various improvements, and been considerably in'value, the sellers have come forward and claimed its restitution on the simple reimbursement of the original purchase money, urging in support of their claim that the sale'of such: property was prohibited by the Mussulman law.^ In some of those cases the purchaser has been obliged to deliver up property which had become twenty times more valuable since it had been in his possession.' ' ;; ■■■"■■ FRANCE AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. In our last number we gave the particulars of the seizure of a French ship by the Portuguese authorities on the coast of Africa. The ship was transporting negroes, as " voluntary emigrants," to a French colony. This was regarded by'the Portuguese as being nothing but the slave-.trade under a thin disguise, and as being a decided infraction of an existing treaty.' They seized the ship, which was sent on to Lisbon/ The French government despatched, as we said in our last, two ships of the line to the Tagus, with a demand for the immediate restoration'of the French vessel. The demand was soon afterwards yielded to, but, according to the Portuguese official account,'only with a protest and under coercion. In England the conduct of the French government naturally gave rise to the bitterest critiscism. Was the system of "voluntary emigration of negroes'," it was asked, anything but a traffic in slaves? And should England, the great opponent of slavery, countenance in her chief ally such a wanton agression on the rights of humanity? We have now a singular concession to public opinion on the part of the Emperor of the French to ;recprd.T7-The ' Moniteur* publishes a letter from the Emperor to Prince Napoleon, requesting him to ascertain the truth of the engagement of labourers on the coast of Africa. His majesty will not have a secret slave-trade at any price. The prince will take steps with the Minister of Foreign Affairs to resume with the English Government the negotiations which we're commenced on the subject some months since. The following is the text of the emperor's letter:— " . . St. Cloud, October 30, 1858. My dear Cousin,—l have the livliest desire that, at the moment when the difference witlvPortugal relative to the Charles-Georges has terminated, the question of the engagement of free labourers on the African coast should be definitively examined and "finally settled on the truest principles of humanity and justice. I energetically claimed from Portugal the restitution of the Charles-Georges, because I will always maintain intact the independence of the national ■flag, but, in this case even, it was only with'the profound conviction of my right that I risked with the King 'of Portugal a rupture of those friendly relations which I am glad to maintain with him. But as to the principle of the engagement of negroes; rriy ideas are far from being settled. If, in truth, labourers recruited on the African coast are not allowed the exercise of their free will, and if this enrolment is only the slave trade in disguise, I will have it on no terms, for it is not I who will anywhere protect enterprises contrary to progress, to humanity, and to civilization. I beg you then to seek out the truth with the zeal and intelligence which you bring to bear on all affairs about which you employ yourself. And as the best method of putting a term to what is a continual cause of dispute would be to substitute the free labour of Indian coolies for that of the negroes, I bpg you to come to an understanding with the Minister for Foreign Affairs to resume with the English Government the negotiations which were entered upon a few months ago. On this, my dear cousin, I pray God to have you in his holy keeping. NAr-OI.RON.