PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. [From the Liverpool Albion, March 20.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 315, 5 August 1848, Page 2

PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. [From the Liverpool Albion, March 20.]

The Provisional Government has issued a decree abolishing the punishments of the gauntlet, keel-hauling, and flogging in the navy, which, until the complete revision of the penal maritime code, are to be replaced by imprisonment in the cachot. Another decree orders the release of all persons detained in prison for civil and commercial debts ; a third abolishes the Council General of the Seine, placing the department under the direction of the Mayor of Paris ; and a fourth reduces the number of ordinary Councillors of State from thirty to twenty-five. Sinecures are to cease ; fewer public servants but well paid, and pursuing a real career, are to be employed, The diamonds of the Crown, and the plate found in the Royal residences, belong to the State. It is proposed to sell the first at sworn estimates, and to coin the second into money bearing the effigies of the Republic. A circular from M. Ledru Rollin to the Provisional Commissioners of the Provisional Government, tells them they are to exclude from the magistracy, not only those who are known to be attached to the late monarchy, but all those who cannot prove that they have long eutertained Republican p;inciples. He tells them that their powers " are unlimited :" that, for the consolidation of the Revolution, " all political functions must be allotted to men of known Republican principles ; that " everywhere the prefects and subfects ought to be changed ; that they must dissolve Municipal Councils, if hostile ;" and with regard to the elections, he says, " The elections are your great work : they will prove

the salvation of the country. It is on the composition of the Assembly tbat our destinies depend. It must he animated by a revolutionary spirit ; if not, we shall go on to civil war and anarchy. On this subject put yourselves on your guard against the intrigues of double-faced men, who, after having' served Royalty, call themselves servants of the People. Those will deceive you, and you must refuse them your support. Let your mot d'ordre be, ' New Men,' and, as much as possible, from the ranks of the people." In the same spirit the National, the principal organ of the Provisional Government, informs the parties known in the old Chamber of Deputies as the party of the Monarchical Opposition, and the extreme gauche, or, in other words, the Thiers and Odillon parties, that they may be very thankful that they are not excluded absolutely from the National Assembly, and advises the electors to send none but proved Republicans to the National Assembly. The ex-deputies of the opposition are, however, determined to offer themselves, and they declare, through their organ, the Ccnstitutionnel t that their intention is not to offer any opposition to the new order of things, but to establish the Republic on a footing of moderation and good sense. The Atelier % which is edited by M. Albert, a member of the Provisional Government, puts forward a list of candidates for the department of the Seine, of whom eleven are members of the Provisional Government, five the heads of ths Socialist party, and eighteen workmen. Amongst the latter are a journeyman cabinet maker, a working printer, and a journeyman shoe maker. M. d' Assailly, grandson of General Lafayette, had published a sort of manifesto against the circular of M. Ledru Rollin. A very exciting scene took place at a meeting of the Provisional Government on Thursday evening. The majority having demanded the resignation of M. Ledru Rollin, this gentleman replied that he would never resign, and that if they wished to dismiss him, he would appeal to the people, at the same time advancing towards a window, no doubt with the intention of addressing the populace. Upon this M. Gamier Pages drew his pistols, and threatened to fire if M. Ledru Rollin persisted. A most violent scene ensued, M. Rollin proceeding so far as to raise his hand against M. de Lamartine, who said " Sir, I would rather die in an emeute than upon the scaffold." Ledru Rollin then became calmer on the threat of Gamier Pages that he would show the people a treasury bond for 300,0p0f., drawn on the treasury by Ledru Rollin.