The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-08 00:00:00

the canal joining the Marne and the Rhine and the canal
of the Garonne.
"As for the railroads which the State has undertaken
to build, no less than 800,000,0001. had been expended
on them up to the 31st of December, 1847. The sta'e-
ments of the engineers are that a sum of 330,000 0001.
is wanted to complete them. The financial crisis has
depressed that sum to 16,000,0001. „
" The lines of the North were in March increased by
a line from Creil to Noyon.
. .

" The line on the lefE bank of the Loire has been ex-
ended to Sanmure.

" The Midland lines have advanced to Nerondes.

" On the great line between Paris' and Marseilles the
section from Marseilles to Avignon has been opened.
The company had been legally dispossessed of that line,
which is now under the provisional administration of the
State.

" No works hare been undertaken on the line from
Avignon to Lyons. Between Lyons and Paris the State
has retaken the concession which was granted 20. h of
December, 1845.

" From Paris to Tonnerre, and from Dijon to Cha-
lons-sur-Saone, the line is about being opened. To
complete the whole from Tonnerre to Dijon, and from
elmtons to Lyons, about two years of uninterrupted
work are wanted.

" Only one line has been added in the West. It com-
municates between Paris and Rennes. The head of that
line was one of the two roads of Versailles; the law of
the 21st of April last joins to the road on the left bank
the works (now finished) between Versailles and Char-
tres. The transport of travellers will commence on the
10th of July; in eight months the line can be brought to
Loupe, and thus be made to communicate with the de-
partment of the Orne.
"In spite of the commercial crisis of 1848, some
progress has been made in the mining and smelting
departments.
" Forty-five new mining licenses have been issued; the
joint number of the last three years amounts to the
same. From the Ist of January to the 19th of May,
1849, ten more licenses have been issued.

" The smelting-houses have likewise progressed. In
1847, :36 were granted; in 1848, the number was 55;
since the Ist of January there have been 19.
" The geological map is finished and published.
" The credit proposed in the budget of 1849 for the
organization of an hydraulic service, tending to dry
moors, has not been granted, and the Administration
was therefore forced to confine itself to a special service
in some of the departments, ha which the local magis-
trates had approved of the measure.
" Private building, in which a vast number of persons
are engaged, has suffered from the crisis.
_ _

" The National Assembly has only voted the money
required for the completion of the fabrics which were
building since some years. The works at the Sante
Chapelle, at the Mining School, at the Library St.
Genevieve, at the Polytechnic School, and at the Lyons
Veterinary School, have been continued.
" The Government thought it worthy of the Republic
to complete the Palace of the Louvre, where all our
literary and artistic treasures :are kept. It has, conse-
quently, asked the National Assembly for the means.
This demand is now before a Committee, and this im-
portant question will again be submitted to the Assembly.

" PUBLIC INSTRUCTION.

" In the outset of his administration the Minister of
Public Instruction appointed two Commissioners to pre-
pare two drafts of laws on primary and secondary in-
struction. His object was an immediate and sincere ap•
plication of the principle of liberty, as traced in the
Constitution. The result of their laborious deliberations
will be submitted to the Assembly.
" A draft of a law on the establishment of a course
of practical administration in each faculty of the depart-
ment has been presented to the National Assembly. The
question was not decided, and will again be brought
forward.

Two decrees of the Executive, of the 30th of May
and 16th of August, placed the Algerine schools in the
province of the Minister of Public Instruction, and Al-
giers became the seat of an academy. A commission,
under one of onr ablest generals, is studying to find the
means to facilitate the intercourse of the Arab and
French languages.
. _

" The Administration of Public Worship has been
encouraged and approved iu the report of the Committee
on the Budget.

" Negotiations have been opened with the Court of
Itmane for three more episcopal seats in our colonies.
This measure will complete the emancipation of the
blacks, and place the colonies on a level with the mother
country.

" Tlie Government has also occupied itself with the
renovation of the colleges of Catholic theology, as wished
by the National Assembly. This delicate question has
been submitted to a committee, and inasmuch as the
highest interests of religion are concerned, the question
is not open to be solved without the participation of the
spiritual power.
" Considerable appropriations, which gave the means
to raise the salaries of the teachers, and to improve the
condition of the - have proved that the Assembly
wished to supply the religious and intellectual wants of
the people. The present Assembly will, no doubt, un-
derstand and continue this political, equitable, and reli-
gions idea.

" France has 68 establishments of higher instruction,
with 6,269 students.
" Besides the Normal School, in which there are 115
pupils, there are 1,220 secondary establishments, with
106,065 pupils. There are also 56 lyceums, 309
communal colleges, and 955 private establishments. The
primary schools nceived 2,176,079 boys and 1,354,056
girls—a number of 3,530 135 pupils.
" These summary d tails will show you, gentlemen,
that the Administration has been z 'BMus in its duties.
The revolution has given it a fresh impetus; in its va-
rious branches it has not been satisfied with merely ac-
complishing its functions, but it has also endeavoured
to answer to the public expectations by preparing plans
of improvement, which will bo submitted to the Legisla-
tive Assembly.

" FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

" It is the destiny of France to shake the world when-
ever she moves, and to calm it when she becomes quiet.
Europe lays its repose or its agitation at our door. 'Phis
responsibility impoaes important duties upon us; it do-
minates over our situation.

" Atter the days of February the recoil of our revolu-
tion was felt from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and
lily predecessors in office refused to throw France into a
war of which they c mid not see the end. They were
right.
" The state of civilization in Europe allows ns to de-
liver one's country to the hazards of a general collision
only when a man has necessity and justice unmistakably
on his side. A secondary influence, a more or less
specious political reason, are not enough; a nation like
curs, if it does engage in a gigantic. struggle, ought to
be able to justify in the eyes of the world either the
magnitude of its successes or that of its misfortunes.
" When I camp to power, great questions were pend-
ing throughout Europe. On the banks of the Rhine,
bed and the Alps, from Denmark to Sicily, we had our
interests to protect, our influence to exert. But did this
interest and this influence for being energetically upheld
merit the chances of a European conflagration? The
question thus put was easily answered.
" From this point of view Franco did, in all the foreign
affairs which we are going to review, all that she could
do for the interest of her allies, without, nevertheless, ap-
pealing to the last argument of Governments, viz., the
force of arms.

" A year ago Sicily had risen against the King of
Naples. England and France interfered with their
fleets to stop the hostilities, which became still more
cruel; and though England was more interested in the
question than even France, the two admiral's united to
obtain from the King Ferdinand an amnesty for the Si-
cilians and a constitution which guaranteed their legis-
lative and administrative independence. They refused.
The admirals quitted Sicily, being forced to abandon
their mediation, and soon afterwards the war began.
The very people which had refused to accept fa-
vourable conditions was forced to an unconditional
surrender.

" A serious war broke out in the north of Italy, and
when the Piedmontese army advanced to the Mincio it
was thought, though but for one moment only, that
Lombardy would reconquer its independence. Discord
proved fatal to that hope, and the King of Piedmont was
obliged to retreat within his own states.
__ _

"At the time of my election the mediation of Eng-
land and France had been accepted by the belligerent
parties. The only thing to bu effected was to get the
least disadvantageous conditions for Piedmont. Our
part was traced out, and even prescribed. To refuse
compliance was the inflaming a European war. Though
Austria did not send any agent to Brussels, the place
which was designated for the conference—the French
Government counselled Piedmont to resist the movement
which was hurrying her into war, and not to recommence
a too unequal conflict.
" This counsel was not followed, as you know; and
after a new defeat the King of Sardinia concluded
directly with Austria a fresh armistice.
" Although France was not responsible for this con-
duct, she could not permit Piedmont to be crushed, and
from the tribune itself the Government declared that it
would maintain the integrity and territory of a country
which covers one portion of our frontiers. On the one
side it used its best endeavours to moderate the
Austria,require-
iteng awgheednpsiheed
ondemsndedt to makean jinudstemsarciirtiyfieforsr
the war, which appeared to her exorbitant. On the
hoaf ntod:obtain an honourable peace. We have every
to believe that we shall be successful in this work
of conciliation.
iormnet eha
ordernseon other s

" While these events were passing in the north of
Italy, new commotions arose in the centre of the Penin-
sula to complicate the question.
" In Tuscany the Grand Duke had quitted his states.
In Rome a revolution had been accomplished which had
profoundly agitated the Catholic and liberal world; in
effect, for two years one had been in the habit of seeing
on the Holy Throne a Pontiff who took the initiative in
useful reforms, and whose name, repeated in hymns of
gratitude from one end of Italy to the other, was a
symbol of liberty, and a pledge Of every hope. It was
then we heard on a sudden, with astonishment, that this
Sovereign, so lately the idol of his people, had been eon).
pelled to fly furtively from the capital.
" So it was the acts of aggression which enforced Pius
IX. to quit Rome appeared in the eyes of Europe to be
rather a conspiracy than the movement of a people
which could not have passed in one moment from the
most lively enthusiasm to the most afflicting ingratitude.
" The Catholic Powers dispatched ambassadors to
Gaeta, to occupy themselves about the grave interests
of the Papacy. France, too, had a right to be repre-
sented there. She listened to everything, without com-
mitting herself to any course of action ; but after the
de'eat of Navarra, aff ties assumed a more decided as-
pect: Austria, in concert with Naples, answering the
appeal of the Holy Father, notified to the French Go-
vernment that it must decide upon its course, for these
Powers were determined to march upon Rome, with the
intention of restoring purely and simply the authority of
the Pope.