FRANCE.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 333, 28 December 1860, Page 3

FRANCE.

Baron Hubner, the French Minister of Austria, arrived some days ago in Paris; and a report has since been current that he is charged with a mission to sound the French Government as to how it would act if Austria attacked Sardinia. Religious ceremonies have been celebrated throughout France for General Pimodan and those who fell with him in the cause of the Pope. The impression seems to be deep-rooted in many classes that the disastrous passage of arms at Castel Fidardo was the result of a plan to crush Lamoriciere and his army. Lamoriciere, after having been liberated by the Sardinians, recently went back to Civita Vecchia; and the story was that he intended calling General Goyon to account for having sent him a despatch meant to mislead him, and which occasioned the loss of his troops. After the service in the Cathedral of Orleans the other day, copies of that despatch were distributed amongst the congregation. It is dated September 7, and is as follows:— I have to inform you, by the Emperor's order that the Piedmontese will not enter the Roman States, and that 20,000 French troops are to occupy the different fortified places in those States. Take all your measures therefore, against Garibaldi: It is to this document that the subjoined note, which has just appeared in the Moniteur, refers:— Some foreign journals persist in speaking of a telegraphic despatch which the Emperor's ambassador at Rome addressed to Lamoriciere, announcing to him immediate succour from the French troops. We formally deny the existence of this despatch. The Duke de Grammont could not have taken upon himself the responsibility of such a step. It was simply to the.Consul of, France at Ancona that he wrote, in order to oppose to false reports the assurance that the invasion of the Holy See, far from taking place with.the authorisation of the Emperor's government, had excited its high approbation. We will add at that period our corps of occupation was composed only of two regiments of infantry, and there was then no question, of increasing its strength. How- can it be supposed, that the ambassador of France could have promised to General Lamoriciere, circumsanceswhich admitted of nd delay, a support which, theWery force of circumstances did not permit'him {ogive ?, In spite of the above note of (he Mmiwr

the Bishops of France have continued of late to manifest a hostility to the Govern-7 ment, which for openness and virulence has not been paralleled for years. Pastorals^ circulars, allocutions, andisermoris denounce, and all but implore Divine, vengeance on the invaders of the Papal' States.. As a specimen of the length to which (Daring has gone within,the last week or two, we need only quote an extract from an allocution of the Bishop of Poitiers, which appeared the other day:— The limits of iniquity are passed, exclaims the Bishop, public morality is openly mocked at, robbery 'seems to have become the new international code. Rome, and, its environs, we are told, are more than what St., Peter ever possessed. Yes, it is true, much more than St. Peter ever had, for St. Peter dwelt, in the catacombs, and he lived under Nero, who caubed him to die on a cross. If the catacombs (I will not. call you Nero, but some Cesar ofthe Lower Empire holding sway at Rome) be all that you require for this spiritual chief ot the whole world, for the guide of 200,000,000 of consciences, say the word; For our parts we ate sure, we have no doubt. whatever that the successor of St. Peter will be always assisted from on high; and he will know how to do his work in the catacombs, and even under the sceptre of tyrants. The French Government, however, has now resolved to put a stop to these attacks. As a, proof that it means to be in earnest, it has suppressed one of the papers—the Gazette de Lyon— which took the side of the clergy.