The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-11 00:00:00

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday
and of yesterday.
The Moniteur of yesterday contains the following
telegraphic dispatch :

" Gaeta, Dec. 7.
"M. de Corcelles has been presented to the Pope by
M. d'Harcourt. His Holiness appeared much affected
by the generous resolution of the French Government.
He desires to visit France, and he announces his formal
intention to proceed there as soon as circumstances will
permit.
" Marseilles, Dec. 9, 10 o'clock."

Up to the hour of the departure of the post yes-
terday evening Paris was perfectly tranquil: The
election was proceeding with the greatest calmness
and order, j result owing entirly to the prudent
measures adopted by the Government for the main-
tenance of the public peace. In the course of Satur-
day the Government issued the following procla-
mation :

" FRENCH REPUBLIC.
"LIBRRTY, EQUALIT,Y, FRATERNITY.
" Citizens!—To-morrow each of us will be called on
,o join in the most solemn act of the popular sovereignty.
A great nation confiding in its rights, confiding in its
strength. confiding in its enlightenment, is about to
choose the man on whom it will, for a time, impose the
care, the charge of watching, with the National Assem-
bly, over its security, its interests, and its honour.
" Since six months, the Government of the Republic,
faithful to its convictions, as well as to its duties, has
wished that an entire and absolute liberty, such as the
law itself has taken care to proclaim, should be left to
the examination, the discussion, and the political struggle
which was to precede the ultimate election. That
liberty so ready to degenerate into licence, the
Government has respected, but if it has understood its
duties, and even those of them which are the most
diffi-
cult, it has acquired the right to speak to you of yours.
" Citizens ! If to-morrow you show yourselves calm,
reflecting, resolute, you will have given to your act a
solid and respectable basis. Your enemies, those of
society, would wish, perhaps, to work upon your agita-
tions and your struggles. They will stop before the
imposing act which you are to accomplish. You have
been told, as, indeed, we have told you ourselves, that
foolish people spoke of judging of your choice for the
purpose of bargaining afterwards as to the extent of
their obedience. Be assured that the Government
knows its duties, and that it has never been more ener-
getically determined to fulfil them.
" The good citizens are those who, after having freely
and conscientiously given their votes, know that they
will have afterwards to bow with respect before the
choice of the nation, whatever the name be which it
will have pronounced.
" As to those who may have nourished other projects,
who have made preparations for shameful enterprizes ;
as regards those, if they exist to-day, as a Government,
to-morrow as simple citizens, we can only look upon
them as public enemies, whom the law would not and
could not shield.
"Citizens ! Let us prove .to the world that we are
worthy of exercising a right which cannot be denied to
us, but which some persons may, perhaps, be glad to tee
us prostituting to disorder. Let us not forget that to-
morrow our attitude may constitute or compromise the
Republic.
(Signed) " The President of the Council,
" The General E. CAVAIGNAC.
(Signed) " The Minister of the Interior,
" DUFAURE."
During the sitting of the Assembly on Friday,
The Minister of the Interior presented a Bill to regu-
ate the manner in which the votes given in the election
or the President of the Republic should be examined,
and the result proclaimed in the National Assembly. He
had to propose that it be referred forthwith to the
bureaux d'urgence, and a Committee appointed to exa-
mine it. The following were the articles of the Bill:
" Article 1. The returns of the election of the Presi-
dent of the Republic sent from the departments to the
President of the National Assembly, conformably to
Art. 47 of the Constitution and to the decree of Oct. 28
last, shall be transmitted without delay, under the seal
of the Prefecture to the special committee charged to
examine them.
" Art. 2. The committee, before breaking 'the seal,
shall verity its authenticity; it shall proceed, without
quitting the place, to the examination of all the returns,
and shall state the result.
"Art. 3. As soon as the examination shall have been
completed, the committee shall make its report to the
National Assembly, which shall decide on it in the same
sitting.
" Art 4. If one of the candidates has obtained more
than half the votes given, and at least two millions of
votes; if the conditions required by Art. 44 of the Con-
stitution have been fulfilled, the National Assembly pro-
claims him President of the Republic. Be is immediately
called on to take, at the tribune, the oath prescribed by
Art. 48 of the onstitution.
" Art. 5. The President of the National Assembly, in
the name of that body, shall formally acknowledge the
oath to have been taken, and the President of the Re-
public shall enter immediately on his functions.
" Art. 6. In the event of neither of the candidates
having fulfilled the required conditions, the National
Assembly shall draw out a list of the candidates who
have obtained the greatest number of votes, and shall
proceed immediately to the election. Atter the exami-
nation of the ballot, the President of the Assembly shall
make known the result, and proclaim the President of
the Republic. The formalities set forth in the preceding
articles shall be then gone through."
This Bill was ordered to be examined without de-
lay, and as soon as possible placed on the order of
the day.
The result of the election cannot be known until
the 23d or 24th instant. The polling closes this
evening, and the numbers polled in Paris alone, can-
not be ascertained until Thursday evening. There
were some disturbances in the Place Maubert on Sa-
turday evening, but they were soon suppressed by
the Mobile Guard. General Cevaiartsc has
adopted every precaution for the preservation of the
public peace; and although General CHANGARNIER
supports Louis NAPOLEON, yet CAVAIGNAC has not
only suffered him to retain the command of the Na-
tional Guard, but has placed at his disposal a regi-
ment of infantry and three battalions of the Garde
Mobiles, and has invested him with independent control.
The following explanations with regard to the pre-
sent state of Paris were given by M. DUFAURE in
the sitting of the Assembly of Saturday, in answer
to certain interpellations addressed to him on the
subject by M. Jam- :
M. Dufaure, the Minister of the Interior—l am in-
terrogated on three points:—lst. We have excited alarm
by a meeting which has been held at the Hotel of the
Interior. 2d. We have tolerated assemblages in the
Place Vendome ; and 3d. We have an intention to put
down all the clubs. As to the first point, I considered
it my right to concert with such persons as I think fit,
and I have no explanation to give to any one on the
point.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman has as-
serted that I announced an insurrection, and declared
who were to be the authors of it. I certainly should
not reply did I not fear that silence on my part might
excite disquietude in the public mind.—(Hear, hear.)
It" is quite inexact to say that I announced an insur-
rection—it is equally inexact to say that I mentioned
the day for its breaking out. I repeat, that I would not
give these explanations were I not actuated by the mo-
tive which I have just stated. As to the crowds spoken
of, were I to apply anything to prevent them, as you seem
to recommend, it would be nothing more than the law
on tumultuous assemblages. You ask me why I have
nceo7ttbabieuesin more severe ? I reply, because until yester-
deh,aayve no disturbance whatever t iole place. Cries of
Cavaignac!" you say have been heard; that is
justo y notme mentioned.—(Hear,
reason for eua
rs tohe
aarp)p yytohue
ask law whichme what
h a It
words, with the clubs held witholnuetettihnegsOroca
I intend to do with the electoral
ainryosthuerr.
veillance?
likely tc I reply the moment that they appear to us
compromise public tranquillity, we shall
idpiertyeesl:earnnet,dah:wnseivo:cgoßtilbleon the subject. Full justice, I must
efforts, during the lasteu five months, theotnoths, t Governmentopreserye tr tranquil-
lity, uii tl
consi-
dered as mereltyouttemtcumstance is it that confidence
homeoetrhleaacrtyn o
in us exists neither atapro
wa abroad—we a dß—e w are:er
tai
certain
tha that
during the three weeks')
tainiag the result of the in occupied
au toa aster-.

N 1

place, the Government will adopt every necessary mea-
sure to ensure tranquillity-(Hear,hear)-but also, never
will the Government more require the countenance and
support of the Assembly. Consider the responsibility
of the Government during the period. It is immense.
But whatever may be the result of the election, the men
who are now in power will consider it an honour to ac-
cept what it decides.-(Hear, hear.) The law of the
land is the constitution which we have voted, and he is
a bad citizen who thinks otherwise.-(Hear, hear.) To
maintain public security and peace is our object, and to
attain that end we shall demand from the Assembly all
the means that we may deem necessary.-(Hear.)
The mails were delayed for six hours
on Thursday night in order to carry into
the provinces the result of the debate on
the question of national recompenses. The
reactionary calumniators who had so managed to
speak against time as to secure, under ordinary cir-
cumstances, the circulation throughout France for
twenty-four hours of the false accusation without one
word of the defence (the Ministers had no opportu-
nity of speaking until after post hour on Thursday),
were outrageous at the ill success of the manoeuvre.
The Assembly, however, approved of the conduct of
M. TitouvE CuAuvAL, who took upon himself the re-
sponsibility of delaying the mails, and for the reasons
which he assigned. " I took upon myself," said M.
TROUVE CLIAUVAL, "to retard the mails in order that
the poison and the antidote might arrive in the de-
partment at the same time.-(Cheers.) As such
publication was declared by the Assembly to be a
moral assassination, I conceived that this was a case
where the usual rules of the service might be justly
departed from-(Hear, hear)-and I acted accor-
dingly."
At the sitting of the Assembly on Saturday the
President announced the following as the result of
the ballot for the thirty members to form the Provi-
sional Council of State, the number of voters was
553 :-MM. F. Arago obtained 433 votes, Lacrosse
415, Lamartine 407, Beadeau 389, Dupont (de l'Eure)
336, Senard 335, Goudchaux 330, Billault 316, Mar-
tin (de Strasbourg) 301, Tocqueville 297, Havin 280,
Parrieu 280, Remusat 272, Jules Simon 272,
Stourm 271, Grevy 264, Bzudet 259, Chambolle 256,
Cormenin 247, Buchez 246, Lichtenberger 237, Car-
not 236, Boulatignier 234, Armand Marrast 287,
Landrin 225, F. Lasteyrie 223, Falloux 217, Vaula-
belle 214, Baroche 212, Bixio 197. These represen-
tatives are ,hereby declared to be duly elected. The
members who received the greatest number of votes
after these gentlemen are-MM. Bauchard 196, M.
0. Barrot 186, Corbon 176, Berryer 167, Bon
jeau 164, Parish 165, &c.
The Assembly then determined that they would
proceed to the discussion vote of the following organic
laws :-

1. Law on the responsibility of the persons inves-
ted with public authority.
2. On the Council of State.
3. The electoral law.
4. Law regarding departmental and communal or-
ganisation.
5. The judicial organisation.
6. Law regarding education.
7. Law regarding the organisation of the public
force, Guard National, army, Ake.
8. Law regarding the press.
9. Law on the stage of siege.
As each of these laws must be separately drawn up,
considered in committee, reported on and debated,
there will probably be a lapse of some months before
the discussions can be concluded.
The Assembly has decided that it will adjourn the
discussion of the bill on the responsibility of the
President until after his election.
The expedition intended for Civita Vecchia, re-
turned to Marseilles on the 6th, and it was said that
the troops would be disembarked immediately.
The special commission appointed by the Minister
of War to lay down the bases of a definite organisa-
tion of the Republican Guard has completed its
labours. The Republican Guard is assimilated to
the gendarmery. The effective force is fixed at three
battalions of infintry, each of 600 men, and three
squadrons of cavalry, each of 100 men ; so that, in-
cluding the officers, the whole body will amount to
2,130.

M. THORE, against whom law proceedings were
commenced, has just arrived in Paris from London.
The Court to which the case was sent for examination
has decided that there was not sufficient cause for
prosecution.
The Moniteur announces that Admiral BRUAT as-
sumed the government of the island of Martinique
on the 4th of November, and at the same time
published a proclamation assuring liberty to all and
respect for property, and recommending order and
obedience to the laws.
The Afoniteur gives the following as a telegraphic
dispatch, dated sth, from the French Minister at
Madrid to the Minister of Foreign Affairs :—" None
of the passengers of the Montanera will suffer the
least punishment on account of what passed on board
that schooner." It may be remembered that this
was the vessel alluded to some short time back by
M. JOLT in the National Assembly, and relative to
which General CAVAIGNAC declared that the French
Minister at Madrid should be directed to interfere.
The Bien Public has the following on the affairs
of Austria and Prussia :

" The King has just pronounced the dissolution of the
Parliament, and has granted n charter, a code, a con-
stitution, drawn up in council, in the midst of that
Brandenburg Ministry which is accused before the na-
tion by the majority of the Parliament. We believe
that this must be called reaction. The King of Prussia,
surprised by the revolution of March, considered himself
conquered ; he made, however, a mental reservation; he
had not given up his sword, but bad placed it in the
scabbard, patiently awaiting the hour of difficulties and
of new struggles. He thought the thread of the revo-
lution would become entangled, and he reserved to him-
self to cut the Gordian knot. This he has done. In
the first phase we saw the Crown attack the Parliament

by the nomination of the Brandenburg Cabinet, and the
removal of the Assembly to a provincial town.: We
have just seen in that same town the second phase—the
Parliament carrying there its prudent opposition and
passive resistance. The third phase has commenced
—we are in full coup-detat—dissolution by the So-
vereign authority—a charter granted according to his
good pleasure. Let us now pass to the events of Austria.
The Emperor Ferdinand 1., feeble in body and mind,
weighed down in his purple, and feeling his weak head
bend under the Imperial Crown, brilliant on the out-
side, but full of thorns within—Ferdinand 1., :has just
abdicated the thrones of Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary,
in favour of a young man of eighteen. When it may be
feared that the hand of a great statesman would be
powerless to reatrain the populations escaped from the
laws which restrained them; in presence of the even-
tualities of the future, of the effervescence of Germany,
of Europe, agitated in the midst of the old systems
which are falling—it is a Prince of eighteen who takes
the sceptre, the crown, and the sword! God save the
empire! We must say, however, that this abdication
has a character of conciliation, of which we willingly
approve. To set aside Prince Francis Charles, who only
represents old ideas, and the worn-out system of Prince
de Metternich—to choose a Prince who is engaged by no
precedent—is, at least, to indicate that it is desired to
break with the conditions of a past, allowed to be con-
trary to the spirit of our times, and in this respect the
blank left between Ferdinand and Francis Joseph is even
significative. The present of Austria is consequently less
dark, but are the perils of the future jet aside? And
will not this accession of the new Emperor clash with
the other accession—that of democracy ?"
The Univers publishes the following letter, ad-
dressed by Prince Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE to
the Apostolic Nuncio :

" Monseigneur--I cannot allow you for a moment to
give credit to the rumours which tend to render me an
accomplice of the conduct practised at Rome by the
Prince de Canino. For a long time past I have had no
kind of connexion with the eldest son of Lucien Bona.-

parte, and I deplore with all my soul that he has not
telt that the maintenance of the temporal sovereignty of
the Venerable Head of the Church was as intimately
connected with the cause of Catholicism as with the

Lberty and independence of Italy.
" Receive, Monseigneur, the assurances of my senti

ments of high estegin.
"Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.' '
As the election in Paris has hitherto proceeded
with order and tranquillity, the funds have again risen.
Last night the Five per Cents. were 70 centimes higher
than the closing price of yesterday.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT TDE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE. Dec. 9.
Orleans and Bordeaux, lzYl—Rouen and Havre, 7.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 4th have arrived.
It is said that a plot has been discovered in Cata-
lonia, in which the troops are largely implicated, to
deliver up several of the troops of that province to
CABRERA. CABRERA'S head-quarters arc at Vedra.
He has 56 officers and 800 soldiers prisoners.
MADRID BOLSA, DEC. 4.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 20 1 16 cash, and are reported buyers
at that price to 20, after the close ; Five per Cents.,
9i buyers, sellers ; Coupons, 5i sellers ; Passive
Debt, 3i buyers, 13-16 sellers; Bank Shares, 52
buyers, 54 sellers. Discount on Notes, q. Ex-
chang eon London, 48 40.

DEATH OF lIER SERENE HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS
OF SAZE ALTENBOURO.—We learn that the reigning
Duchess Amelia of Saze Altenbourg died at the capital
of the duchy, en the 28th ult. Her Serene Highness was
second daughter of his Royal Highness Louis Duke of
Wurtemberg, and Henrietta Princess of Nassau Weil-
bourg, and was, therefore, sister of the Queen of Wur-
temberg, the Archduchess Mary (Frances) of Austria,
and the Duchess Elizabeth, married to the Margrave
William of Baden. Her Serene Highness was born
June 28, 1799, and married the reigning Duke of Saxe
Altenbourg April 24, 1817, by whom she leaves a family
of four daughters—namely, her Royal Highness the
Crown Princess of Hanover, the Duchesses Theresa and
Elizabeth, and Alexandrina, the Grand Duchess Con-
stantine of Russia. The last accounts from Germany
announced that the husband of the late Duchess had
resigned the sovereignty of the duchy in favour of his
only brother, the Duke George Charles Frederick.