LATEST EUROPEAN NEWS. [From the Liverpool Albion, March 20.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 316, 9 August 1848, Page 3

LATEST EUROPEAN NEWS. [From the Liverpool Albion, March 20.]

The financial crisis still continues. The failures of the houses of Ganne.on & Co., of Bechet del Thomas & Co., and of Chedaux & Co., bankers, were announced on Tuesday. It is also reported that Messrs. Fould, Oppenheira & Co., and Messrs. Rougemont & Co., aie winding up their affairs, and decline all further business. According to thp Constitutionnel it is the intention of the Provisional Government to establish a Consul of Finances, to be presided over by M. Gamier Pages, and of which the principal merchants and bankers of Paris shall, be members, for the purpose of devising means to meet the cribis. It is said that M. Gunrer Pages proposes to raise a loan of 300,000,000f. at six per cent., to be guaranteed by mortgage on the state forests and the property of the civil list. Bonds of IOOOf. each to be issued, repayable according as those properties should be sold. The firm of Gabriel, Odier & Co., has subscribed 1,117,800f., that of Blanc & Co., 1,570,000f., and the Paris stockbrokers 300,000f. to the national loan of 100,000,000f At Marseilles the demand for money is so great that 50f. are given as a premium for changing a note of IOOOf. into sf. pieces. The election of the officers of the National Guard, which was fixed for the 18th, has been postponed by the Provisional Government 'o the 23rd. The Provisional Government, it is said, has intimated its desire that all the officers chosen last year may be discarded, as chosen under a corrupt system, and nominees of the Government of Louis Philippe. "The number of the National Guards of Paris has been increased from 80,000 to 235,000, and it is daily increasing. 2 The commission for the arrangements of the liberation of all the slaves in the French colonies have issued a notice , stating, that " that great reparation cannot be accomplished before the completion of next harvest."

A recommendation of M. Emile de Girardin, that the bank he restricted from further cahh payments, was adopted. The following decree of the Provisional Government, issued on Wednesday, adopts that principle, and prohibits temporarily further payments in specie by the bank : " 1. From the date of the publication of thejpresent decree, the notes of the bank of France shall be received as a legal tender by the public officers and private individuals. 2. Until further orders the bank is dispensed with the obligation of paying its notes in specie. 3. In no case shall the issue of the bank and its branch banks exceed 350,000,000f. 4. In order to facilitate the circulation, the bank of France is authorized to issue small notes, which, however, shall not be of a lower denomination than lOOf." It would appear that this measure, deplorable as it is, could not have been avoided. The run upon the Bank of France on Wednesday was awful. " The applicants for money were so numerous," says a writer, " that they were obliged to place themselves en queue as at the entrances to the theatres on crowds ; and although this facilitated their progress, the last comer was an hour and a-half before he reached the cash office of the bank." That this exteme measure would he the cause of further'commercial and bankingdisasters was not doubted. The decree for the fusion of the grenadier and light companies of the National Guard with the centre compauies, in order to give advantage to the democratic party, lias produced vast dissatisfaction among the National Guards of Paris and its environs. Of the minor and innumerable proofs of that dissatis'action, furnished every day since the promulgation of the decree, we aball not at present spt'ak, but come at once to the great and important fact which we alluded to in the outset. On Wednesday a large number of National Guards, many of them of the Banlieu, Belleville, Vaugirard, the Batignolles, &c, presented themselves at (he Hotel de Ville and demanded the recall oj the decree in question. No promise of compliance was given, whereupon they said, " we come unarmed today to demand a right: jou took us unfairly and by surprise. If by nine o'clock to-morrow morning that decree be rot annulled, we' will be here, and annec 1 ." This menace excited great alarm at Paris. The Paris papers of Thursday contained announcements of the suspension of payments by the Bank of France, which was authorized to issue inconvertible notes of 100 francs each The panic has been increased by the illjudged circulars of M. L"dru Rollin on the subject of the elections. He has not yet re- I signed the Ministry of the Interior, although there is every probability that ere long the public indignation will dike him from his post. M. Keeratry, and old and staunch republican, who was appointed by the Provisional Government a Councillor of State, has sent in his resignation, givin." as a reason for so doing the conscientious objection which he entertains to the violent, tyrannical, and autirepnblican and retrogade principles enunciated by M. Ledru Rollin and Carnot in their lespective circulars. Serious disorders had taken place at Lille. Several manufactories threatened with destruction were saved b_ the energetic attitude of the authorities and the National Guard. The following extracts shew the state of Paris on Thursday :—": — " The city has been in a state of the greatest excitement all day. Tne decree of the Provisional Government dissolving the com} agnies d'ilite of the National Guard awoke a storm of opposition in that body. Yesterday a lithographed circular, calling on the men of the various legions to assemble and proceed en masse to the Hotel de Ville was issued. They were to maich in uniform avec la sabre, but, before the bills were pobted, these words were erased with a pen, at least iv the summons of the Seventh Legion, and they proceeded to their destination unarmed. The crowd gathered in immense numbers in front of the Hotel de Ville at an early hour, but it was not until nearly two o'clock the deputations arrived. They were received by the mob with cries very unlike those which have hitherto greeted them. The act of the Govern* entis regarded by the populace as another step towards the establishment of perfect equality, and the reluct- , ance of the Guard to comply with the decree is treated as a kind of manifestation of aristocratism. It is thought to be the first symptom of a reaction. Shouts of egaliti, a has les aristocrates / and other exclamations followed the entrance of the deputations into the square; even cries of On ne passe pas were raised, though there was no attempt to prevent their passage by any active demonstration. The" Provisional Government and the Republic were as loudly cheered. The great body of the National Guard did not appear on the place, but remained drawn up on the quai ; in front of them an immense mass of people. All the bridgeswere covered with the throng, the confusion being increased by the moving deputations marching with flags and dums up to

the Hotel ; two of them were composed of women, one of the dames de U Halle ; the , other the petty dealers in iruit and ankles sold on stalls, of whom there are nearly 30,000 in Paris. The old police waged a continual war with them for obstructing the thoroughfares, and their petition is for ' freedom of commerce.' ' The mob on the Place was frequently divided into two groups, gathering round some orator of the hour. The tone of the speeches was unfavourable to the demarche of the National Guard, who seem suddenly to have fallen into bad odour. The influence the compagnies d' 'elite, &c, would have on the approaching elections is at the bottom of the movement against them ; at least that is the sentiment of the mass. On all the Boulevards groups are collected in the same manner, and business is at a stand still. The temper of the crowd cannot yet be called anger, but the slightest collision, such as an accident might bring about, would have very serious consequences." On Friday, at an early hour in the morning, placards were posted in the different quarters of Paris, calling on the people to assemble in the Place de la Concorde, and proceed in a body to the Hotel de Ville, as a demonstration of the popular force that is prepared to support the Provisional Government against an} reactionary movement. Many of the placards were torn down by the National Guards. Later accounts describe tlie popular meeting, which numbered 50,000 "fighting men." The men went in procession to the Hotel de Ville, and were received and addressed by members of the Government, who refused to appear to the National Guards on Thursday. There was much excitement, a great show of organization, and perfect order. The prevalent cries was " Vive Ledru Rollin !" " Vive Flocon ;" a few were raised for Louis Blanc, and none for de Lamartine. The spirit of the leply of the Government to the deputations of the National Guards is given in one of the official decrees, joined with a pointed rebuke. Their request is lefused, the Government " regretting that their measures should have excited a manifestation inconsistent with public order." It declares its readiness to be guided by the enlightenment and advice of the dtizens, but the acceptance of what is offered as counsel, cal.nly and legitimately, "renders the resistance of the Government necessary, when it takes the form of menace or force." The National, of Friday, while commending the step already taken in making bank notes a legal tender, offers two other suggestions ; one, that Ihe private property of Louis Philippe should We pledged to the public creditor ; the second, that the holders of Treasury bonds should be offered the option of a deferred settlement, taking fresh bonds, payable at six and nine months' date, or of converting their securities into Government stock at the price of the day. The second of these suggestions has been adopted." The most important feature of the intelligence from Paris on Saturday was the proclamation promised by -M. Lamartine, on the subject of the complaints against the circular of M. Ledru Rollin. Though eloquently vague in style, in spirit it is calculated to re-absure the timid, and encourage a peaceful spirit. The document is addressed to the electors generally ; for whose guidance the writer holds up the example of the Parisians. " The people have repressed anarchy from the commencement. The people themselves bioke to pieces the weapons of their just anger. They burned the scaffold. They proclaimed the abolition of the penalty of death against their enemies. They respected property. They have, in a word, made the name of the people synonymous with courage, clemency and virtue. " We have but one word of instruction to give you. Be inspired by and imitate the people ! Think, feel, vote, and act like them, j The Provisional Government will not "enter j the slough o! royalty," and imitate usurping governments by corrupting the electors. One of its duties will be " to shed upon electoral operations that light which enlightens consciences without forcing them. It confines itself to neutralising the hostile influences of the late administration, which has perverted and changed the nature of elections." It does not disturb itself with respect to ancient parties ; which have lived an age in three days. " Necessity is a great raa&ter. Reflection is on our side." " Everybody will be Republican through conviction. " Let us not lose an opportunity unique in history * * * " A few days more of magnanimity, rlevotedness and patience, and the National Assembly shall receive the Infant Republic from our hands. From that day all shall be secure ! When the nation shall have grasped the Republic with the hands of its representatives, the Republic will be strong and great like the na:ion, holy like the idea of the people, impershable like the country." The document beari the signature of all the members of the Government.

Prince Louis Napoleon will be a candidate for a seal in the National Assembly, for the department of the Seine.