STATE OF THE CONTINENT. (From the Times, August 30.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 274, 13 January 1849, Page 3

STATE OF THE CONTINENT. (From the Times, August 30.)

The Piris papers of Monday have arrived by oin* ordinary express. They stale, but not positively, that the Ge eral comm'iiding at Melz received orders by telegraph to place upon awir footing eight companies of each battallion of the regiments in his department The Minister of Wir had ordered 10,000 muskets oC the raanufactuiers of C'arli'ville, hut it was believed only with a view to tbe employment of the noikmen. It appears that the statement was erroneous wh'ch set forth that General Cavai«nac had prohibited the publication of the pro'est of certain journalists against the power assumed by tbe Government to suspend newspapers and to imprison oditois without trial, which had recently been exercised by the Chief of the Executive Government. The protest in que.tion was presented to General Cavni<rnuc on Sunday by a deputation of the subscriHers to ir, whom hp received in the kindest manner. He stated to th°m that, in the proceedings he had reported to h-« had acted under a sen«e of impera'ivc! duty. In protesting against it they (the subscribers to the document) had no doubt been similarly influenced. Their protest was no surprise to 'lira. The Dtbats states positively that the Duke of Genoa had refused the crown of Sicily offered him by the people of that island. The political ferment which prevails in Germany was beginning to occasion uneasinpss in Pans. The Presse asserts thnt ur> to the 18th instant the cholera had not diminished in intensity at St. Petersbu gh. The malady was still making alarming progress in G-licU. The proposition of M Proadhon for a natnn^l loan of 2 milliards of f.-nties (£80,000,000), and the union of the Bank of France to the national property, has been submitted to the Committee of Agriculture and Commerce. Our Paris letter of Monday evening contains the following : — " Confi'Jenep in the px'sting G vernment continues to increase. The firmness and activity of General Cavaignac are relied upon for restoring tranquillity and even prosperity, tor it is diemed certain that he will be elected President of the Republic. It will hence be seen that a eount«r«rev>lution is unt considered probable. The National Guards of Paris, who wero mainly instrumental in effecting the revolution, have certainly suffered, and to an enormous extent, by the change, and may desire a regency, or in fact any alteration that will promise a return of occupants for their house' and customers for their wares; but the man who should say that love for Henry V., sympathy for the Count de Paris, or grateful affection for a nephew of Napoleon, has sprung up in their hearts, would at'empt gioßsly to deceive the world. On the 24th February, nothing in the shap* of a government wis> possible but * the Republic ' Oi this, the 28th. Augii't, no othe- form of government could be substituted for it by any party of which I can conceive th.3 existence The Republic may or may not continue. If General Cav-u^c iivs it wjll be consolidated; if he fall eirly he w. ill hs succeeded by a man (Lamoii. cteve) who would be found no l^ss resolved nnon a counter-revo'ution. Bedeau would, in case of Lsmo'riciere's d^atb, prove even i more formidable enemy of reaction than either. In shoi t, the parlies of Henry V., of the Count de Pans, and o- the Bonapartes, respectively, are at this moment powerless, and nothing appears to indicate a change, although I am aware that a thousand sil'y rumours of impending events are in c'rculaiion. " I mentioned this morning that General Cavaignac had received the depu'aiion of protesting journalists courteously and kindly. The statement is repected, nevertheless which presented him as further menacing the newspaper press. I might name an influential journal which has hitherto escaped suspension, to which an in'irnatun has been conveyed, that the first a 'tide calculated to opeiatc on the public mind injuriously for the Republic would be the signal for its suppression, There is nothing in this at variance * ith the character of General Cavaignac. Ha would regret the nec^ity, but he would ttiike, and stiike home too, if his duty appeared to him to demand it. "The rumour is b>lievi.d which states that the ex-King Louis Phillippe has app'ied tj the Government for a portion at least of his private funds, and hat a remittance has been nmde or promised With the exception of some Socialists or Communist* there is not a man in France <yho would find fault with such a course. I " I now come to a *eri»us matter, not strictly of a domestic kind. lam assured that on Saturday last M. Basti<Je, Minister for Foreign Affairs, despatched a courier to Vienna for M. Delacour, the French Minister, (or Charge d'Affures,) with orders to demand, immediately, of the Austrian Cabinet a categogoricnl answer to the offers of meliation in the affairs of Itily made by France and England ; and that M. Delacour is instructed to intimate to the Government that any hesitation to reply would be considered by the French Government as a releass from their engagement conjointly with England to endeavoiy to effect the pncificition wi'h Italy by diplomatic means. " My informant aUo assu-es me that, in oder to support this application, General Cavaigntic had really ordered the oi^anizntusn, on a war footing, of the troops on the Moselle, which I communicated to you thib morning-"

Treasonable Documents — The fully of Smith OBrien was iiuvtar more app neat th in in his retention in a card-ss manner, of treasonable cfocumeuts, deeply implicating miny purso s in his insuirectJonary dcoign*. A l»r<fe portion of this corresp mdence was kept in a travelling b q which lie left <n C^hel; and when airested, O'Hiiui, in the liiiilrwull of 'lhurle-,, wrote a latter to his coriebpondent in Cashel Miggesting that tl.e correspondt'Pc** in question blnuld be deiiroyed. Of course, the le tei toll into *hs hands of tlie au'h rities, and liio di-ilonj^s thus «invcd at are most important. On \'h. O'Biien'b person were a^o found a lettrr from Clmrts G ivan Duffy, of the Nation, relatnp lo iiit>urri'Cti»nary mi'astires, and m what quarters a k sistanre could be lo >k.pd for ; and, in con-m-quenre tf ihis, the tri.il ot Mr, Duffy tor telony wiU not be pioceeded with, bu f htswill be prosecuted ior hii^li tieahon. Rumour sajs that many of the letters found in Smith O'Buen's portmanteau, and promising him countenance and help from various iullueirial piieats and laymen, are foigerieh. That such Itttera exut there is no doubt, but ihe denial of their authenticity may be made for a purpose. Four jouitg m ea in fne hab'Tdash-'ry war^housie of Messrs, C-inuoc'k and White were arrested on Saturday, uudei warrants iron* the Privy Council.