FRANCE.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 374, 24 May 1861, Page 4

FRANCE.

ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO THE EMPEROR. The London .Evening Express of the 26th February, publishes the following communication from its own Paris correspondent:—

Paris, Monday Evening,

At the pnblic sitting of the Senate to-day, M. Troplong in the chair, the following " project" of an address to the Emperor, which has been drawn up by the committee selected for that purpose, was read :—

« Sire,—When your Majesty, by your decree of November 24, was pleased to enlarge the sphere of your communications with the great bodies of the state, as also those of the state with the country, the Senate, as the garden of the fundamental^ pact, at once understood that the constitution remained intact, and that it was merely about to be animated by a more energetic movement, We congratulate you, sire, on the august confirmation which your Majesty has given to our interpretation. France neither loves excessive liberty nor excessive power; aud for this reason it clings with confidence to the constitution of 1552, the prudent limits of which at once prevent power from becoming absolute, and liberty from going astray. Your Majesty, the author of this constitution, whose root is in the national voice, is also its mainstay, and it is not in your bauds that it will deviate from its essential principles. But it is not a deviation from the constitution, to open a door to reforms which are inherent in durable institutions, and only repugnant to constitutions behind which there is nothing solid. We hail these reforms with gratitude, and we shall know how to associate ourselves with them what that independence which is in our hearts and wishes, and with that moderation which is the duty of the Senate.

" The exposition of the home and foreign situation of the country has proved to us, by undeniable documents, your Majesty's constant solicitude for the prosperity and grandeur of the

empire. "At home order is united with security, and every man feels that he is living with that reasonable degree of liberty which France cannot do without. Our finances do not appear likely to be deranged by the abandonment of Dioety millions of receipts, sacrificed to the relief of articles of general consumption; for your government does not find it necessary to fill up ■this voluntary void, either by resorting to new taxes, which are generally viewed with small favor, or to public credit, which is always anxious to be spared. Although the manufacturing interest, momentarily alarmed by the treaty of commerce,may be husbanding its^trength during the period of transition, it is only that it may find in the stimulas of competition that courage which ensures success. Meanwhile public works continue to be actively carried on ■without fear of those shocks which over-enter-prise can alone produce. Capital is abundant and desires only to circulate. It is impatient to see foreign affairs in a settled condition, in order that it may invite material interests to embark in the career of public and private wealth. This career i 9 now one of the necessary ways of national activity. France does not shrink from confessing this, since, in entering upon this career, she does not mean in the least degree to abridge her worship of the glories of mind and courage, or to weaken that moral patrimony which is exalted by civilisation.

" For these reasons the Senate has cheerfully adhered to the measure by which your Majesty has consolidated in the hands of the Minister of State the various services appertaining to letters and the fine arts. Encouragements to works of intelligence honor a reign, and fecundate the genius of an epoch. Centralised under the eyes of the Emperor, these encouragements will be given with greater symmetry, continuity, and

success.

"It is also with a lively satisfaction that the Senate has seen the efficacious solicitude of your Government to promote religious and literary instruction, to ameliorate the condition of the clergy, and to augment the number of parishes and vicarages in the provinces. " The development of moral sentiments is the best auxiliary for the laborious activity of a people. It is in this view that the wishes of the Senate support the laudable efforts of your Majesty's administration to second the communes of the empire, and more especially the rural communes, in the construction and reparation of their churches, presbyteries, and schools. At the same time that agricultural entertainment is extended under the protecting hand of the Emperor, it is indispensable that the morality of the population should be sustained in a parallel movement of pro-

gress.

"After your Majesty's journey to Algeria, you determined on a new organisation of the government of that colony. We congratulate you on seeing an illustrious marshal, our colleague, called by your confidence to realise the hopes attaching to the system of decentralisation which you have resolved to try. May this system, in which the military element is intended to strengthen and not to efface the civil element, favor moro and more those conditions which are essential to the confidence of colonists and the safety of capital. It is certainly in the institutions of the colony which will above all things produce this result—and this certainly is in the spirit of our constitution and the idea of the Emperor.

" Abroad, Sire, your Majesty, by the frankness of the communications of your Government, has enlightened the public conscience and confirmed the confidence of the country in the greatness of France and in the maintenance of peace. The alarms which were some time ago excited by the announcement of a ' fatal epooh ' (meaning war in the spring) have vanished. The diplomatic correspondence throws a striking light upon the good understanding of France with foreign nations, the weight of her consideration, and the value of her moderate and conciliatory policy.

"In Syria you have placed the sword of France between tl;e Christian populations and Mussulman fanaticism. 'Ihe massacres of our Christian brethren have leea stayed by the sight of your flag.

" But more—the French army, faithful to your appeal, has been into the extreme East to raise up the Cross, which was laid low by Asiatic superstition. As missionaries of religion and avengers of French interests, our Boldiers, united with those of Great Britain, have opened a way for ideas, trade, and civilization iv the capital of the Celestial Empire. That was a splendid day when in the restored church a *Te Deum' resounded for the Lord, and a 'DoDiWQSaiYumMorthQEmDtiror.

" If we now cast our eyes towards the Italian peninsula, we are struck, like your Majesty, with the events of which it has been the theatre since last session. Two interests of the first order, which the Emperor would have, wished to conciliate, are in conflict, and Italian liberty is in hostility with the Court of Rome. To prevent and stay this oonflict, your Government has attempted everything which political ability and loyalty could suggest. To some you have pointed out the course dictated by the law of nations, to others that by facts. In one place you have severed yourself from unjust aggressions ; in another you have beeen grieved by impolitic re3istance. Everywhere you have been moved by noble misfortunes and unhappy ruins. Finally, all just means have been used, and you have only stopped at the use of force. For it is not by armed interventions that thoughts of conciliation are to be realised. Your Majesty has not forgotten, moreover, that, in other times, the fault of France has been to pretend to rule Italy after having freed her; and you have wished to disentangle French policy from that which would have embarrassed it, not thinking that because it has seemed right to intervene in favour of Italy oppressed by the foreigner, is would be proper to intervene to constrain the will of enfranchised Italy. This sjßtem of non-intervention, the best for preventing general conflagrations, will close the field of our secular rivalries with Austria ; aud if, despite sinister predictions, a European war does not break out in the spring, it is because your Majesty, maintaining a wise attitude, has resisted the impulses of ardent passions, as you have refused to yield to reactionary demands. And this peace will be a benefit as precious for Italy as for us; for Italy will not be appreciated by the world which watches her if she does not prove that she has no wish to agitate Europe by her liberty after having so long troubled it by her misfortune?. Let her remember, above all, that Catholicism has confided to her the head of the Church, the representative of the greatest moral force of humanity. The religious interests of France demand that she shall not ferget this; the friendly souvenirs of Magenta and Solferino lead us to hope that she will keep it in mind. But our firmest hope is in the tutelary and indefatigable hand of your Majesty. Your filial affection for a bely cause, which you do not confound wiih those of intrigues which borrow its mask, is incessantly manifested in the defence and the maintenance of the temporal power of the Soverign Pontiff! and the Senate does not hesitate to give its entire adhesion to all the acts of your loyal, moderate, persevering policy. For the future we shall continue to place our confi-

dence in the monarch who covers the papacy with the French flag, who has assisted it in its trials, and has constituted himself for Rome and the Pontifical throne the most vigilant and faithful sentinel. Sire, in the midst of the questions which seem to force themselves upon Europe, France is perhaps the country in which there is the least to do, because of all that she has done. However, a nation like ours cannot remain inactive; labour and progress are its destiny ; and it is from your Majesty the most beneficial impulses will proceed. Whatever may be the part reserved for the Senate in the national movement, your Majesty may rely upon its zeal, its devotion, and its love for the public interests and truth."

A case of deliberate fraud, carried on for years with great pertinacity, has just been discovered in the Commercial bank of London. John Durden, a ledger-keeper, has robbed the bank of nearly £70,000. He has been arrested and, together with an alleged accomplice, James Holcroft, a shoe dealer in Hattougarden, is now in custody. Durden was a ledger-clerk, and it was his duty to enter in his ledger the amount of deposits made by customers. Holcioft was a nominal customer of the bank, having a very paltry account in reality, but which had been Bwelled to an enormous amount by fictitious entries made to his credit by Durden, who afterwards used Holcroft's cheques upon this imaginary account to effect the embezzlements with which the prisoners are charged. This fraud was effected by Durden in the follwing manner. —He received the amount of £156, for example and entered it tothe account of Messrs. Hamilton and Co.; he at the same time entered the same amount to Holcroft's account. This was done with a large number of deposits from day to day, Holcroft's figures being omitted in the casting up, so that there did not appear any discrepancy in the sum total. That this plan should succeed it was necessary that Durden should never be absent; and although it was a rule that the clerks should have a yearly holiday, Durden took none. Durden entered into building speculations, and, it is surmised, intended to refund : but intense anxiety and failure brought on paralysis, this compelled absence, and absence led to discovery. The excuse for Hoicraft is, that he believed Durden to be a man of the highest integrity, and allowed him to " operate "on his account; but the Bow-Btreet magistrate would not admit this as a defence. As soon as the bank directors discovered the fraud, they promptly transferred their business to the London and Westminster Bank, and bo avoided the perils of a " run."

. The total known criminal population of England and Wales numbers 135,766 persons, all at largo end it is estimated that it costs the country £9,000,000 annually.

A Child Partly Eaten by a Rabbit.—A singular circumstance occurred at Hull. The diet of rabbits, generally speaking, consists of vegetables and roots, but one of these creatures, belonging to Mr. Courtenay, photographist, 10, Ocean-place, Hull, was found by the servant (who was attracted to the cradle in consequence of the child crying) busily engaged making a meal of the hand of the child, which is ten months old. It was at once taken off, when it was found that two fingers of one hand and a finger and thumb of the other had been eaten completely away.

The Last of the Aborigines op Tas-mania.--In a report issued by the, Colonial office an account is given of fourteen persons, all adults, aborigines of Tasmania, who are the sole surviving remnant of ten tribes. Niue of these persons are women and five are men. There are among them four married couples, and four of the men and five of the women are under 45 years of age, but no children have been born to them for years. The Maoris of New Zealand are said to attribute their decline in number to the ganeral change of habits introduced by oivilisatioi?. Besides these fourteen persons, there is a native woman who is married to a white man, and who has a son, a fine healthy looking child, of whom she and all the blacks are very proud. These 14 aboriginal natives of Van Diemen's Land live at Oyster Cove Station, where they are fed, clothed, and boused at the fublio eagtiitse * their wtafeteuce and manage-

ment cost about ,£7OO a-year. All work devolves upon the women—the men do nothing. They are much addicted to drinking, have an antipathy to cleanliness, and insist on keeping a number of dogs, which eat, live, and sleep with their owners. Their chief amusements are fishing and hunting; in the latter they generally absent themselves once or twice during the season for two or three weeks or a month, living during that time in the busb. They always ask leave to go upon these occasions, and take with them their bedding, pots and pans, &c, and as many rations as they can carry. Their behaviour is very good when they are not excited by strong drink. The men generally speak English, but in quarreling invariably use their original language. Their health in general is very good.

The Camp at Aldershott.—- There is a rumor—almost a belief—that the costly experiments in making soldiers and genera's at Aldershott will be brought to an end. If the gain is equal to the outlay, there is no reason to discontinue the process. It seems to be thought that such is not the case. At all events, there is a notion that only the cadre of the camp will be kept up in the form of the barracks already built, the mess huts, the baking and cooling establishments, and the brick-built edifices, and tbat the huts will be disposed of. Indeed, it is further stated that the estimated cost of repairing the huts in camp would be .£20,000, and that, after all, they" would not be good much. The camp at Chalons will probably b& selected as the type of the new camp, and the troops will be put under canvas.— Army and Navy Gazette.

A Public Character.—Wilkie, when a professional artist, never painted upon a Sunday, and the writer of this article never saw the palette upon his thumb on that day but once and, on his inquiring the reason for breaking through the rule—" Well, you see," said Wilkie, " this is a public character, and can only be spared from his duties on a Sunday." He was the monkey belonging to the Exeter Change menagerie, and whose protrait WPkie has handed dowu to prosterity sitting on the boy's shoulder in the National Gallery, bequeated by Lord Colborne.— Art Journal.