by loans, the deficit for that year was 72 millions; the deficit for the current year is estimated at 180 millions. He recommends a reduction

of expense as well as an increase of revenue.

2. National Guards, This comprises nearly 4,000,000 men, of whom 1,200,000 are armed with muskets. The re-organization of the garde mobile has caused a saving of 7,000,000 francs.

3. Army. France now has under arms 451,000 men, and 93,754 horses; and 16,495 guns, of which 13,777 are of bronze. The field pieces are 5,139. The navy, in active service, consists of 10 ships of the line, S frigates, 18 corvettes, 24 brigs, 12 transports, and 24 light vessels, besides 14 steam frigates, 13 steam corvettes, and 34 despatch steamers. There is also a reserved force of 10 ships of the line, 15 sailing frigates, 10 steam frigates, 6 steam frigates, and 6 mail steamers. These require 950 officers and 28,500.

4. Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce. Since February last, twenty-one farming schools have been added to the twenty-five previously in existence. 122 Agricultural Societies, and more than 300 minor institutions have aided in distributing the funds voted for the encouragement of agriculture. The organization of the national studs for the breeding of horses has been greatly modified and improved. The supply of food is sufficient for the wants of the people. The foreign commerce of the country had greatly declined in 1848; the consumption of iron, coal, wool, and silk, especially, had decreased: but they have progressively advanced in the present year.

The administration is disposed to apply the labour of convicts to agriculture. In 400 county prisons there are 26,653 convicts; in twenty-one central depots, 17,789 convicts; and in twelve houses of correction, 3,600 juvenile offenders.

There are distributed by the charitable institutions of France, for the relief of the sick, the aged, the blind, deaf, and dumb, 116 millions annually; yet this immense sum is small, compared with the amount wanted. The government is resolved to supply the deficiency.

5. Public Works. The progress of the new canals, decreed by the Constituent Assembly, has been suspended for want of funds. On the rail-roads undertaken by the State, 800 millions had been expended on them to the end of 1847. The engineers required 130 millions to complete them, but sixteen millions only have actually been contributed. The several lines are particularly noticed. The mining business has made some progress, as has also the number of smelting-houses.

6. Public Instruction. France has 68 establishments of higher instruction, with 6,269 students; and 1,226 secondary establishments, with 108,065 pupils. There are also 56 lyceums, 309 commercial colleges, and 955 private establishments. The primary schools received 2,176,679 boys, and 1,354,056 girls. The revolution has given a new impetus to the subject of juvenile instruction.

7. Foreign Affairs. "It is the destiny of France," he says, "to

shake the world whenever she moves, and to calm it when she becomes quiet." He commends the pacific policy of his predecessors. He adverts to the troubled state of Europe after the revolution in February, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and to its condition when he came into power. France, unwilling to go to war, endeavoured by uniting her friendly mediation with that of England, to bring about peace between Sicily and the king of Naples, but without success. A similar interposition in the war between Piedmont and Austria, had no other effect than to lessen the exorbitant demands of the latter for indemnity. In the case of the Pope, who was compelled by a conspiracy to fly from Rome, where he had recently been so popular, he said the French government had one of three courses to pursue: which were, either to oppose by force the threatened intervention of Austria and Naples, and thus involve France in a war with all catholic Europe; or to allow the powers in coalition to re-establish the authority of the Pope on their own terms; or, lastly, to exercise an independent action, and to take Rome under the protection of France. The expedition to Civita Vecchia had the sanction of the National Assembly; and it was confidently expected that it would have been cordially welcomed by a large majority of the Roman people. The opposition it encountered, he attributes to Garibaldi, at the head of a band of refugees from all parts of Italy. This unexpected contest has frustrated the negotiations of France in favour of Denmark in her contest with the central government of Germany. The opposition to the Assembly at Frankfort, as well as the war between Austria and Hungary, are then noticed; but while he forbears to commit himself in favour of either of the belligerents, he thinks proper to state that Russia has recognised the French republic. He concludes this exposition of the affairs of the republic with some general declarations of his course of action, and with the recommendation of some special laws to the legislature for the amelioration of the condition of the people; professing, however, that he would not "cradle the people in illusions and utopias, which only exalt the imagination to end in deception and misery," and that whenever he sees" an idea which contains the germ of practical result," he will cause it to be studied, and if it be applicable, he will propose to the Assembly to apply it.

The royal tone of that part of the message which related to the President's views and purposes was little calculated to win the confidence of any class of the republican party; and his open denunciations of the socialists, his opposition to the republican party in Rome, and his guarded and forbearing language towards the enemies of Hungary, hastened, if it did not suggest, a conspiracy on the part of the red republicans to bring about a new revolution. On the 13th of June, the party, of which Ledru Rollin was considered to be the head, endeavoured to effect one of those popular movements by which power has so often been made to change hands in Paris first, and eventually throughout

France. But the military, faithful to the executive, crushed the conspiracy at once. Ledru Rollin succeeded either in making his escape from Paris, or in concealing himself, and finally found his way to London. Popular insurrections in the other principal cities of France seem to have been planned by the conspirators, but it was only at Lyons that there was any serious demonstration. There too the emeute was effectually quelled by the military, amounting to 50,000 men, and as many as 1200 persons were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in these insurrections.

The policy of the executive towards Rome was persevered in, and encountered a fainter opposition in France, from the general desire of the people, and of the military portion especially, to wipe out the tarnish the French arms had received at the gates of Rome. In the paramount love of national glory, the cause of republicanism seemed to be forgotten. General Oudinot had fallen into discredit, and orders were sent on to supersede him in the chief command of the forces before Rome, but when intelligence was received that he had obtained possession of the city, they were revoked by a telegraphic despatch. The final assault was made on the 29th of June, but the whole army did not enter the city until the 3d of July. Garibaldi, with five or six thousand men, left the city, when its further defence was found impracticable.

In a letter from the Pope to General Oudinot, dated the 5th of July, he makes his acknowledgments for the triumph of order over anarchy, and for liberty restored to honourable and Christian individuals, who, he says, will no longer be considered culpable for enjoying the blessings which God has bestowed on them, and for worshipping him with religious pomp, without the risk of life or liberty. He sends him some copies of the history of his pontificate, which, he says, will show that the triumph of the French arms has been over the enemies of human society, and which must call forth the gratitude of all honest men in Europe and in the world.

The city was placed under the government of General Rostolan, who issued a proclamation to the inhabitants, enjoining the strict observance of order-suppressing political associations or clubs-and forbidding all violence or insult to the French soldiers, or persons in friendly conversation with them. Three cardinals, commissioned by the Pope to take charge of the government, arrived at Rome on the last of July, and their authority and functions were announced the next day in a general order issued by General Oudinot. He states that thenceforth the Holy Father or his representatives would resume the entire administration of the country, but adds that the public security would not the less be under the special guarantee of the French army; that the Roman troops in the provinces occupied by the French would be under the command of the general-in-chief; and that the military authority would be preserved to fulfil the high mission that France had intrusted to it,

for the interest of the Roman people, and the temporal authority of the pontiff.

In the mean time, the re-instatement of the Pope in his temporal Sovereignty was very unpalatable to the liberal party in the French National Assembly, and the subject gave rise to an animated debate on the 6th and 7th of August, in which the course of the administration was assailed by M. Arnaud and M. Jules Favre, and defended by M. De Tocqueville and M. De Falloux, members of the cabinet. The opposition maintained that the expedition to Rome had been subservient to the policy of Austria, and faithless to the cause of civil freedom-the administration insisted that interested as France was in the safety of Italy, it had no alternative but war or intervention; and that the restoration of the Pope's temporal power afforded the only security for his independence. They added, that they wished all liberal guarantees accorded to the Roman States, and that, without such concessions, the temporal power could not be sustained. The ministerial party prevailed by a decisive majority.

Saving the discussions on the Roman expedition, little of interest or importance was said or done in the legislature from its meeting in May to the latest dates in August. The parties of which the assembly is composed, distrustful of each other, could co-operate in no course of public policy, and no one of them had sufficient confidence in its own strength to attempt any favourite measure. All appears to be in a state, if not of transition, at least of suspense, doubt, and uncertainty. It is clear that the wishes and expectations of every party from the revolution have been disappointed, and it is almost equally clear that the present hopes of each are balanced by its fears.

The law for restraining the liberty of the press, which the ministers introduced in the latter part of July, may be considered an exception to this course of forbearance. The first provision of the law, which assigns to the ministry the duty of prosecuting the offences of the press against the chief magistrate, constituted the chief theme of debate in the discussion of this law. The word offence, as explained by the reporters of the bill, reaches to every shade of attack, so as not to affect the right of criticism and of free discussion. But what, said the opponents of the bill, is the limit between the legal offence and the right of free discussion? where shall the attack be arrested, or the offence begin? The President of the republic is made responsible by the constitution, and can he elude this responsibility by sheltering himself under this species of inviolability? The debate continued for six days, with great eloquence and skill on both sides, when the several amendments to this provision were rejected, and it was adopted by a vote of 395 against 153. The other clauses of the bill passed after little or no discussion.

Early in August, M. Passy, the Minister of Finance, laid before the assembly his budget for 1850, as well as a general exposition of the

national finances. He shows that, notwithstanding the additions which were made to the public debt in 1848, the deficit for the present year will be one hundred and eighty-four millions. The expenses for 1850, together with the sinking fund, will amount to 1,591,000,000 francs; and the receipts, including the impost on liquors, will produce but 1,271,000,000 francs; so that the deficit will be not less than 320,000,000 francs.

To meet this exigency, the Minister proposes a loan of 200,000,000; the laying of new imposts; the suspension of the operation of the sinking fund, which would disengage sixty-five millions; and lastly, some special means applicable only to the expenses of public works. This scheme of revenue was threatened with serious opposition in the assembly.

His late

From those who are dissatisfied with the present state of things which now exists in France, rumours and suspicions of meditated political changes naturally arise, and one of the most prevalent of late has been that it was the purpose of the President or of a party to elect him Emperor. The imputation has found its way into the journals, and has derived a support from the fact that the principal discussions in the legislature seemed to be at bottom contests between monarchists and republicans. The little confidence, therefore, with which the republican party had first viewed him has gradually grown less, and all his acts and movements have been most narrowly watched. tour to Rouen, Havre and other towns, was supposed to be made for the purpose of feeling the popular pulse, and no small exultation is manifested that he met with little to encourage the ambitious schemes imputed to him. At Rouen, indeed, he was treated with the ceremonious respect due to the chief magistrate of the nation; but at Havre there was more frankness in his reception. The Mayor of that city in his address reminded the President of the pledges he had formerly given at Tours in support of the republic-remarked that France had reached her political majority; and concluded with these words: "Be the first regular founder of the French republic: let the love of France be your crown, and your glory will be immortal. Washington had no other, and his memory will live for ever." To this address, he returned a short, polite answer, which was by no means an echo to the counsels of the mayor. Brief as it was, he twice told the citizens of Havre that there could be no prosperity for their commerce without "stability and order." On a subsequent visit to the interior he was received with more enthusiasm by the people. At Epernay, the bishop of Chalons, with the clergy and local authorities, received, went out to meet him, and the populace shouted "Vive Napoleon"-"Vive l'Empereur!" His popularity in the provinces and with the army is said to be on the

increase.

No one seems to think that the political structure, which has been lately reared in France with so much labour and ingenuity, will last