FRANCE.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1719, 30 August 1862, Page 4

FRANCE.

(From the Times’ correspondent ) Paris, Tuesday, June 24, 7 a.m. The officer killed in the second affair with the Mexicans on the Guadalonpe, on the declivity of which Puebla stands, was a military lutendant, or Sub-In-tendant. He was cut in two by a cannon ball. The Mexicans were, it appears, so elated at their first success that they insisted on again attacking the French on the following day. General Zaragoza tried to prevent them, but in vain.

A Cabinet Council was held on Sunday at Fontainebleau, when Mexican affairs were again discussed. The Emperor appears quiet resolved to send out reinforcements sufficient to force the way to the capital against every obstacle. The point of disembarcation is the great difficulty. To land at Vera Cruz is to expose hundreds to certain death. Strangers coming even from the Havannah and the West India Islands are liable to infection, and at this season those who <io no more than pass through the town have died of yellow fever on the road to Mexico. Tampico, which is in a healthier situation, and an excellent port, has been spoken of as the landing place, but the difficulties of the ground on the road to Mexico are much greater for an army. Some of the papers mention that a note “ of a serious character” has been presented to the Spanish Government by M. Barrot, the French Minister at Madrid. A communication has certainly been made by M. Barrot within the last three or four days, but I am enabled to state that it is not of the “ serious” character hinted at —if by “serious” is meant angry. It was merely a reply to a previous note read by the Spanish Minister in Baris to M. Thouvenel, setting forth the grounds on which the Spaniards withdrew from the expedition. M. Barrot’s note was couched in corteous and friendly terms, and the Spanish Government arc not dissatisfied with it. Neither has M. Uarrot’s departure from Madrid anything to do with the Mexican affair. He is simply coming on leave of absence. The French Government has more than once declared that it has no intention or desire to quarrel with Spain It may not be generally known that the crown of Mexico was once offered to Joseph Bonaparte, uncle of the Emperor Napoleon 111., and refused. In the second volume, pages 438-39, of His Majesty’s works I find the following : The sth May, 1821, was a day of great sorrow for all the members of the Bonaparte family; the great man died in captivity, and his son was still a captive. Joseph, desirous of doing all he could to bo agreeable to the shade of the Emperor, demanded of Austria permission to visit the Duke of lleichstadt, that he might receive the counsels and the consolations of the brother and the friend of his father. M. do Metternich refused permission. While Joseph was living like a philosopher on the shores of the Delaware, only thinking of doing good to tiros? about him, he received a proposal which surprised him as much as it touched him. A deputation of Mexicans came to offer him the crown «f Mexico. The ex-King of Naples and of Spain replied to the deputation nearly in these words; —‘ I have worn two crowns, and I would not move a step to wear a third. Nothing is more flattering to me limn to see men who, when I was in Madrid, would not recognize my authority, come to me now in my exile, and ask of me to put myself at their head ; but I do not think that the throne which you wish to erect anew can insure your happiness. Every day that I pass on the hospitable soil of the United States proves to me still more the excellence of the republican institutions of America. Keep them as a precious gift from Providence. Settle your intestine quarrels ; imitate the United States, and look out among your fellow-citizens lor a man more capable than I am of playing the great part of Washington.’ ” The Emperor continues ;

“ When Lafayette made his triumphal journey in the United States ho went to see the brother of the Emperor, He expressed to him the regret he felt for his conduct in 1815; and he repeated these words, ‘ The dynasty of the Bourbons will not be able to hold its ground. It too openly wounds the national feeling. Wc in France are all convinced that the Emperor’s sou pan stone represent all the interests of the Revolution,

Place 2,000,000f. at the I promise you that, with be attained. He declined the offer Vk!s lefi of Lafayette’s prediction was • liberty/ having crossed the CS that France had again hoisted the SS' *8 follomng p^sag^fr^ s^^^ 1 a to Chamber of Depntie. Sfc|S4 T • T u e r^ rty of the P*e« is the trim* L % P ress 25* every conscience. Let it but speak • K £ great nation be accomplished, InhSS?**! heart and soul. ’ 18ubac nbetoit^ “Joseph Napoleon Bo» APa#w> “CountofS^.