FRANCE. (From the "Melbourne Argus," August 6th.)

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 664, 25 August 1852, Page 3

FRANCE. (From the "Melbourne Argus," August 6th.)

A decree ordains that henceforth appeals for pardon from the decisions of the mixed commissions shall follow the ordinary legal forms. On Monday at Vincennes, a terrible explosion des-' tro3'ed all the fireworks destined for May 10. The men being at dinner, none were hurt. The Ministers of the Interior and Police are at present occupied with a matter which stirs great scandal, and will be shortly submitted to the Council of State. The central commissioner of police of one of t,he chief cities in the south is on the point of being nrrested, on the charge of having trafficked in pardons, and sold for hard cash, commutations of punishments, or releases from prisons. The fact was denounced to the authorities by a prisoner, who had procured his liberty by this corrupt channel, and has since been confirmed by others. It is now stated that Louis Napoleon is about to mnrry a daughter of Don Pedro by his second marriage. If this alliance should take place, Louis Napoleon would be the brother-in-law of the Prince de Joinville, |his most inveterate enemy, the mother of the intended bride being a daughter of Boharnais. A number of official personages continue to refuse to take the oath of allegiance. The members of the Tribunal of Commerce at Evreux, where M. Guizot always had great influence, have refused in body to take the oaths, Fearing to incur the penalties of the law, which severely punishes publio functionaries for giving in their resignations, with] the object of hindering or suspending the administration of public justice, the members of the Chamber ventured to exercise their office until theirjsuccessorsjwere appointed. Here, however, they placed themselves in a worse position, as the Procureur-General threatened them with prosecution under the penal code for exercising their functions when they '' were interdicted there from legally." The members are subject to civic degradation if they do not act, and if they do, they may be punished with fin© and imprisonment. Such is the pleasant state of the French law, resting, as it does, upon the arbitrary decrees of one man. Nothing has transpired respecting the 10th May. All the papers are Bilent about any coup d ftat ; but Louis Napoleon is always to be most distrusted when he is unusually quiet: something is theu brewing. The following paragraph of the Patrie Louis Napoleon's organ, directed against the correspondents of foreign papers generally, is supposed to be aimed cbiefly al the correspondent of the London papers : " The Minister of General Police has determined to prosecute before the tribunals in virtue of Article 15, of the law of the press, the correspondent of French or foreign journals guilty of publishing false news. Article 15 enacts that tho propagators of false news shall be condemned to twelve monthe imprisonment, and IOOOf. fine." The grand military /tie given by tlid officers of tho army of Paiis, and of the lRt military division, to the President, came off on the 1 1 th May. The number of persons invited exceeded 10,000 and the superficial ertent occupied by the apartments was 9000 square yards. The ball-room represented a vast tent, was ornamented with military trophies, and lighted by 24,000 wax lights. It was calculated to hold more than 2000 ladies. Garlands and bouquets of flowers were presented to every lady on entering, so that the ball-room presented the appearance of a beautiful flower-garden. From his tribune tlia Presidpnt would have a complete view of the whole ball-room. Tho President left the Tuilleries about noon, attended by a brilliant f cortege, composed of the marshals of France, at tbe head of whom rode the ox-king Jerome. The marshals were followed by the Arab chiefs, who attracted general notice, from the richness of their costume. The President arrived at the Champs de Mars at twenty minutes past twelve o'clock. He galloped in front of the troops, who were drawn up in a line, and numbered more than 60,000 men. He then distributed the eagles to the colonels, and subsequently addressed them as follows : — '• Soldiers, — The history of nations is, in a great measure, the history of armies. On their success or reverse depends the fate of civilization and of the country. If conquered, the result is invasion and anarchy ;i if victorious, it is glory and order. Thus nations, like armies, ever entertained a religious veneration for those emblems of military honour, which sum up in themselves a host of struggles and of trials. Tbe Roman engle adopted by theEmpe'or Napoleon at the commencpment of this century, jvas the most striking signification of regeneration of tbe grandeur of France. It disoppeared in our misfortunes; it ought to return when France, recovered from her defeats, and mistress of herself, seems not any longer to repudiate her own glory. Soldiers, resume, then these eagl-e, not as a menace against foreign powers, but as the symbol of power and independance; as the souvenir of an heroic epoch, and as tbe sign of the nobleness of each regiment. Take Again these eagles, which bare so often led our fathers to victory, and swear to die in their defence." The archbishop next celebrated mass, Bnd blessed the colours, which were returned to the colonels. The troops defiled before the President, and the entire ceremony was concluded by three o'clock. About seventy Englibh officers, in uniform, were present. One was thrown from his horse, which hurt two priests before it was caught. The total number of troops on the ground, and engaged in keeping order, is estimated at nearly 80,000. The correspondent of the Morning Herald saya :— *' Theftle was altogether and exclusively military. The people, probably feeling that they' had little part in it, did not manifest that wnrrath of satisfaction which rises to enthusiasm; yet they were pleasant and merry, and as the Prince President passed did not fail in offering theirregards. No courteous attention was paid to tbe Press. The contention respecting tbe decree for the confiscation of the Orleans property has now been formally raised before the section of the Council of State appointed to adjudicate upon disputed affairs; and tbe document setting forth this appeal from the inferior tribunal of the First Instance, assertc thnt the decree of the 22nd January was issued by the Prince President in the plenitude of his legislative power, and according to the fifty-eighth article of the Constitution it had the complete character and effect of a law. It alleges that the seizure of the property was tho necetviary consequence of tlie decree, and that the tribunals cannot claim to take cognizance of the acts of the Government and of the administration. It is in this fonu that the mighty question of the legality of the 2oG decrees, issued by Louis Napoleon from the 2nd of December, has to bo deoided ; and we fear that the Council of State will scaicejy exhibit the same noble independence which distinguished the inferior comt, but will iind some complaisant mode to give the appearance of legal sanction lo one of tho most foul acts of spoliation in modern days. We alluded last week to the important report of the Special Commissioner, Colonel Espinasse, and spoke in condemnation of the Jefferies like spirit which inniked its recommendations throughout. Since then the several reports of General Caur^bert and M. Quentin Baucbart, on the subject of the state of the country, hare been published. Genernl CHurpbert'a repoit is not quite so harsh in its tone as that of Colonel Espinnspe, and the General, like his collodgue, asserts that " clemency," shown to the political prisoners, has had a bad effuct. M. Bauchnrt examined tbe document* connected with the cuse of 5000 individuals comprised in the decisions of the Mixed Commissions, of wYich number more thun 3000 ! had been sentenced to transportation ro the French penal colonies, — some for ten, an»l others for five years. Whilst Colonel Espinasse only hbeiated one or two hundred out of 4000 ! M. linuchait hud set at liberty 1377 out of 3000, and 1653 remain for transportation to Africa; no mitigation of puni'bment is granted to thoso sentenced to Cayenne, and the sentence of 1000 others has been commuted.