The Sun.
London, England, 1849-02-19 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 19, 1849..

pendence without feeling themselves authorised to unite
in arms for alterirg the territorial division of Upper
Italy. It is in putsuince of these instructions that Sir
G. B. Hamilton, Queen Victoria's Minister Phnipo-
tentiary at Fioreice, has used every means of per-
suasion to prevent the Grand Duke of Tuscany
from sending deputies to the Roman Constituent
Assembly. The Grand Duke Leopold internally par-
ticipated in the views of the British Government ;
but feeling how greatly the authority of his Go-
vernment had been undermined by the persevering
efforts of the revolutionary party, he saw the im-
possibility of resitting the pertinacious solicitations of
Montanelli and Gterrazzi, who never ceased from alarm-
ing him with the prospect of a sanguinary revolution if
he, as sovereign, cpposed a refusal to comply with such
a positive will of the people. The Grand,Duke was
constrained to give way, and signed, as it were, his abdi-
cation, by authorising his Ministers to proceed to the
election of deputies from Tuscany: to the Roman Con-
stituent Assembly. Sir G. Hamilton comprehended that
the mandate given to the Tuscan Deputies to the Roman
Assembly would place the crown of the GrandlDuke at
stake, since all tLe world knew beforehand that the
Roman Constituent Assembly, composed of the most
exalted chiefs of the demagogues, reserved to themselves
the power of proclaiming the Republic as soon as the
sittings were opened. It is known, moreover, that for
the formation of the Federal state dreamed of by the
Italian Radicals, these are labouring for the material
fusion of Tuscany with Romagna. In the presence of
these dangers, Sir G. Hamilton thought it to be his duty
to offer to the Grand Duke of Tuscany the protection of
England, to shelter him from the violence which the
Tuscan revolutionists would not fail to exercise upon
their Sovereign. On receiving orders from Sir G.
Hamilton, sent to the commander of the British
squadron off Sicily, three ships of war, the Bellerophon,
of 80 guns, the Thetis, and the Porcupine, anchored on
the sth in the roadstead of Leghorn, remaining at the
disposal of the British Minister at the Court of Florence.
Two days after the Porcupine went to Piombino, where,
according to a telegraphic dispatch received by the French
Government, she took on board the Grand Duke of Tus-
cany and his family on the morning of the 7th. On the
same day, at four in the afternoon, the Bellerophon and
Thetis sailed from Leghorn to meet the Porcupine, and
act as an escort to protect the Grand Duke in his flight.
There is every reason to believe that the Grand Duke
is making for Gaeta, and not for the island of Elba, as
some journals suppose. On this point the French Go-
vernment has not yet received any positive information.
As the Grand Duchess of Tuscany is a sister of the
King of Naples, it is more probable that the Grand Duke
is seeking an asylum in the bosom of a family to which
he is allied, than in the island of Elba, where he would
find only a precarious security. It is unnecessary to
remark how strongly the attitude assumed by Eng-
land towards Tuscany indicates that the Cabinet of St.
James s will not recognise, either in principle or in its
consequences, the dethronement of the Grand Duke of
Tuscany."
The PPesse says :—" We are assured that a move-
ment has taken place at Barcelona, which ended in
the proclamation of a Republic. This news is said
to have been received by telegraph, and to have been
immediately communicated to the Duke DE SOTO.
MAYOR. We publish it, however, with due reserve,
until better informed on the subject." The truth of
this statement has been since denied.
The arrest of the Governor of St. Pelagie has
nothing to do with politics. He is accused of em-
bemiement.
M. LAGRANGE intends moving the following addi-
tional article to the Bill relative to the celebration of
the Anniversary of the Revolution of February :
" The National Assembly shall immediately elect a
committee of fifteen members, to which all the docu-
ments concerning the citizens accused and condemned
in virtue of the decree of the state of siege shall be
submitted. That committee shall be charged with
the revision of those condemnations, and proposing to
the Assembly, as the principal appendage to the great
Republican solemnity, the amnesty of all the citizens,
whose probity should be certified by honourable
attestations."
The Government has prohibited the usual proces-
sion of the Bceuf Gras on Shrove Tuesday.
The PRESIDENT gave a grand ball on Friday even-
ing, which was attended by the members of the
corps diplontatiqut, the elite of the fashionable
world, and many the old noblesse of the Faubourg
St. Germain.
The French Five per Cents. were done at-advanced
prices on Sunday, at the Passage de rOpera, the last
quotation being BSf. 15c. At one period of the day
they were as high as 82f. 30c.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE. Fee. 17.
Anglo Italian (lat?, Italian and Austrian), li4—Boulogne
and Amiens, 934—Central of France (Orleans and Vierzon),
103,4—Luxembourg 10/.), 1 B ix int.—Namur and Liege,
B—Northern of Fraice, 9%—Orleans and Bordeaux, 31,4—
Paris and Orleans, 313j4—Paris and Rouen, 19% ex div.—
Paris and Strasbourg, 31/4—Rouen and Havre, 1134—.
Sambre and Meuse, 5%—Tours and Nantes, 2,4.