FRANCE.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 761, 30 July 1853, Page 3

FRANCE.

A grand ball hits beefi given to the Emperor and Empress by the Legislative Body. It was a very brilliant affair indeed; something far superior to the common run of such things. The attendance at it was mi ch more distingue than at that of the Senate ; but nevertheless, a few unmarried dam-

sels of more notoriety than virtue contrived t•> obtain admission to it; and one of them conducted herself so grossly that she had to be ejected byforce, From such little Incidents as these, the reflecting reader will be able to form an opinion of the strange state of Parisian society at present moment; they will perhaps make him think that it cannot be very widely different ft om what Sallust and Juvenal described that of Rome to have been when It was approaching its tall. 'When, too, thev arc told that the grave Legislative Body Las been completely absorbed for weeks past in the preparations for this ball ; that the distribution of tickets and the 01 enng o lemonade, ices, and Biscuits, were as giave j an as elaborately discussed by Committees o e Honourable House, as the most important matters in our Parliament—that on a question of negus an ex-Cabinet Minister, a Knight Grand ross o the Legion of Honour, gave in his resignation with more solemnity than a Prime Minister m England announces his retirement when he ia lost “ the confidence of the House when e readers are told this, visions of the Roman Sena c discussing the sort of sauce with which the Emperor was to eat his turbot, will rise to t leu astonished imaginations. . There is a little notification in the official Moniteur , which is a tolerably decisive proof that, alter all that has been said, promised and done, the Pope will not come to Paris to crown ins x - perial Majesty Napoleon 111. “ The Government has no intention of effecting any alteration in the law relative to civil marriages,”—such is the substance of the announcement. Now, the resto - ration to the Church of the right of marrying was one of the very first conditions laid down by the Pope, and accepted by France; and though the execution of that condition would have been the revive’ of what ought never, for the sake of reliarion and morality, to have been abandoned—yet it is certain that it would have created profound hostility amongst this irreligious, infidel, and priest-hating people of France. As, however, the present Government has got them in such ignominious subjection that it may and does act as it pleases, without caring one straw whether they like it or not—it is tolerably clear that there is good reason to assume that in announcing that its part of a bargain will not be fulfilled, the bargain has gone off altogether. His Majesty must consequently be crowned by a vulgar cardinal, or or not be crowned at all.— Britannia, April 9. Compte de Montaieinbcrt refused to subscribe to the ball given last week to the Emperor and Empress, and his letter of refusal having been published in a Belgian paper, the paper was stopped at the Post office. The refusals of members of the council, mayors, &c , to take the oath of allegiance, increase. The French Government has resolved to grant the concession of a railway from Bordeaux to Lyons to an English company, at the head ot which the Compte de Morny had placed himself. It appears that the enterprise is much greater and more extensive than was at first known. It consists not simply of a railway from Bordeaux to Lyons, but of a series of railways, embracing a large portion of the middle of France, and in all exceeding 1009 kilometres (625 miles) in length. The [Municipal Council of L’Orient has voted 40,000f. towards defraying the expenses of the Emperor’s reception. The Minister of Marino has decided that all sailors from twenty 1o forty years of age, who have not yet served in the imperial navy, shall be liable to serve in that force. It is thought that these men will replace those sailors who have been, or are shortly to he, discharged. The Bishop of Orleans is about to publish a pamphlet in favour of the Archbishop ot Paris, and, in short, religions civil war is raging fiercely. The Pope had written an encylical letter to the French clergy, with the view of quieting the controversy. The Archbishop of Paris has, owing to the encylical letter of the Pope, withdrawn the prohibitions to his clergy writing in or supporting religious journals. The Municipal Councils of several towns have been dissolved by the Government. The determination of the authorities is. that no officer of any grade shall be tolerated who is not known to be a thorough partisan of the Emperor. The Moniteur publishes a circular from the Minister of Police on the subject of glee clubs and harmonic unions. Coflee houses are not to be opened for purpose without an express license from the Prefecture, and such licenses when granted, may at all limes be suspended. Four und-twenty hours before each concert the programme is to bo submitted to the police, and published by being fixed in a conspicuous place in the establishment. No songs are to be sung that are' obnoxious to order and morality. A Paris manufacturer has received an order from the Government for a marine steam-engine of 1000-horse power. The tomb of Napoleon, in the Hotel des Invalides, at Paris, is to be inaugurated withgreat pomp on the 4th May. There is to be no alteration, it seems, in tire ceremony of civil marriage, the Emperar having publicly disclaimed any intention of making any change in this respect. The Moniteur publishes a circular from the Minister of Police, in which it is said that no political refugee shall for the future be allowed to reside in the department of the Seine, at Lyons, or at Marseilles, without an express authorisation of the said [Minister. Without such authorisation, the Spanish refugees shall not be permitted to travel or reside within 100 English miles from the frontier of the Pyrenees. The same rule applies to the refugees from Germany and Poland, who are to keep beyond the above distance from the German and Swiss frontiers. The Italian refugees are prohibited entering the departments which are contiguous to the frontiers of Italy. Any fresh immigrants that may arrive, If armed, shall be disarmed and watched, until the Minister of Police had decided on their admission or expulsion. Admission may be peremptorily refused to those who on their flight from a distant country have already found an asylum in another country. The will of N: p ileon I. has been brought from London to Paris by M. Charles Batidin, Secretary of the French Legation in London. The Emperor has decreed that this will should be deposited in the national archives. The Emperor has on this occasion addressed a letter of thanks to Lcr 1 Clarendon, and a gold snuff-box with the Imperial initials in diamonds has been sent to Mr. Dyke, the Queen’s Proctor.

The floods on the 26th, 271b, and 28th of March, did considerable damage, and further retarded sowing operations. Earthquake in France.— A letter from Coutanccs of the 2nd of April says ;—We were very much alarmed last night, at eleven o’clock, by a shock of earthquake, which' was repeated twice within fifty seconds of time. A portion of the ceilings of our upper rooms fell, but no further damage was done. The night was beautifully clear, clouds moving rapidly over the sky, with occasional but stormy gusts of wind. We passed a sleepless night, and felt some slhdit shocks at half-past twelve and four in the morning. The alarm in Coutauces was very great. At the cathedral the high altar is slightly injured, the marble slab is displaced, and the crucifix was turned round.” At about eleven o’clock, on Friday night, a smart shock of earthquake was folt at Havre. The oscillatory movement was in tho d Faction of N.W. to S.E., and its effects were more particularly felt at Ingouville and Graville. 'lhs atmosphere at the mordent?had become Unusually heavy. The shock only-lasted about two seconds, buf during that tune, doors and windows were violently shaken, as- though a heavily laden Avaggoi * was passing along C the street. In nas a shock o! earthquake felt at Havre, in the in'qVitlgbf April, dqrinw Easter’'week, and the,'inhabitants oil left tie churches hTalflr m.; /Fur Hi long time after, at that period.o’f. the year, processions were made by the clergy in order to avert the recurrence of such a calamity, dhe shock of earthquake experienced at Havre extended, it appe. ra to Caen, where the furniture was moved in ih.- hj times and the barrels set in motion and rolled on the quays;, 'ihe weather was perfectly calm at the time,