Secession of Georgia and Louisiana

FEBRUARY 2, 1861.]

HARPER'S WEEKLY.

(Continued from Previous Page)

collision, though it is hoped that this may be averted through the intervention of mutual friends, notwithstanding the tact that a challenge has passed from Mr. Rust to Mr. Dunn.

THE SECESSION OF GEORGIA.

On Saturday, January 19, the Georgia State Convention adopted the following secession ordinance by yeas 208, nays 89.

An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of Georgia and other States united with her under the compact of government entitled the Constitution of the United States.

" We, the people of the State of Georgia, in Convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained, that the ordinances adopted by the people of the State of Georgia in Convention in 1788, whereby the Constitution of the United States was assented to, ratified, and adopted, and also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly ratifying and adopting amendments to the said Constitution, are hereby repealed, rescinded, and abrogated.

" And we do further declare and ordain that the union now subsisting between the State of Georgia and other States, under the name of the United States, is hereby dissolved, and that the State of Georgia is in full possession and exercise of all those rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free and independent State."

A motion to postpone the effect of the ordinance to 3d March was lost by 30 majority. Hon. Alec Stephens, Judge Johnson, and others - cooperationists - signed the ordinance after it passed. Resolutions were subsequently adopted continuing the United States laws in force, maintaining the Postmaster, Collector, and other officials, and providing for the execution of sentences by the Federal Courts.

SECESSION OF LOUISIANA.

The State Convention assembled at Baton Rouge on Wednesday, January 23d, and organized after prayer. A Committee was appointed to draft an Ordinance of Secession. On 24th the Committee of Fifteen, by their Chairman, John Perkins, Jun., reported an Ordinance dissolving the union between Louisiana and the other States; also a resolution recognizing the right of the free navigation of the Mississippi River to all friendly States bordering thereon, the ingress and egress of the mouth of the river to be the same as heretofore with foreign Powers, with a willingness to stipulate guarantees for the exercise of these rights.

A resolution sustaining the Governor in taking possession of the fortifications passed, one hundred and eighteen to five. It was considered a test vote on secession.

ALABAMA PROVIDING AGAINST INVASION.

The Alabama House passed, on 19th, a bill to provide against the invasion of the State by sea. It makes pilots liable to fine and imprisonment who bring foreign vessels into the harbor of Mobile, and authorizes the commander of Fort Morgan to destroy the beacon and landmarks at his discretion. A resolution was also passed to make a contract for the construction of a telegraph line to Point Clear, in order to effect a more rapid communication with Fort Morgan.

THE COUNTRY TO BE PLACED ON A WAR FOOTING.

Bills are being prepared by the Military and Naval Committees of the House, and by the Committee of Ways and Means, for immediately placing the country upon a war footing. The President will be authorized to call for the enlistment of volunteers, and a considerable number of war steamers will be forthwith ordered to be constructed. The recent demonstrations in Southern ports show that we are deficient in our naval force, and especially in substantial light-draft vessels. Hence the recent necessity of employing an unarmed wooden shell, like the Star of the West, to go upon, a warlike errand.

THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN INAUGURATION BALL.

The herald Washington correspondent writes : "Preparations are progressing for a grand Union Inauguration Ball, to come off in this city on the night of the 4th of March. It is designated to be in no sense a partisan affair, but one in which Union men of all sections and parties may join. Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott will head the list of Managers, assisted by the veteran Commodore Stewart. General Wool, and other prominent officers of the Army and Navy, Messrs Crittenden, Seward, Douglas, and other Senators, and distinguished citizens of each State of the Thirty-four, are expected to participate in the management. A spacious building will be erected specially for the purposes of the ball upon Judiciary Square, adjoining the City Hall. It is designed to put the tickets at five dollars each ; and, for the greater convenience of the public, they will be for sale in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, and various other large cities of the Union, representatives from all of which will probably be present. No effort will be spared to make the occasion a brilliant success in all respects."

THE EX-MEMBERS OF THE CABINET CHARGED WITH TREASON

F. C. Treadwell, a lawyer of New York, on Saturday handed Chief Justice Taney an affidavit, in which he charges Governor Floyd, Howell Cobb, Mr. Toombs. Mr. Iverson, Jeff. Davis, General Lane, of Oregon, and all the seceding delegations, except Mr. Hill, of Georgia, and the greater part of The other Southern delegations in Congress, except Mr. Boulingny, by name, with treason and misprision of treason, and prays that Winfield Scott, James Buchanan, Robert Anderson, and others may be summoned as witnesses. The punishment of treason is death, and of misprision of treason seven years imprisonment and a fine not less than one thousand dollars

Judge Taney kept the affidavit three days, and ordered the clerk, Mr. Carroll, to return it, with the remark that it was not a proper paper to be submitted to the Court.

Treadwell is a venerable man, seventy years old, and said to be a well-read lawyer. He has written much on various legal topics, and the late Judge Kent once paid him a high compliment for his legal abilities. He figured prominently in the Dorr Rhode Island rebellion, taking the ground that Dorr did not commit treason because he rebelled against a State, and that treason could only be committed against Federal authority.

SEIZURE OF THE ARSENAL AT AUGUSTA.

Governor Brown, of Georgia, backed by seven hundred State troops, on 24th demanded the surrender of the United States Arsenal at Augusta. At noon the demand was complied with. The Federal troops saluted their flag and retired. The arsenal, at the time of the surrender, was occupied by a company of United States soldiers, who had, it is reported, been sent to Augusta at the solicitation of the citizens, who desired to protect the property from apprehended attack by a mob.

SEIZURE OF THE ARSENAL AT APALACHICOLA.

A Tallahassee correspondent of the Jacksonville Southern Confederacy gives the following graphic account of the capture of a United States arsenal:

" About 7 o'clock on the morning of the 6th instant, the arsenal of Apalachicola, at the mouth of the Chattahoochee River, was besieged by the troops of the State of Florida. In consequence of the weakness of the command an entrance was gained. Mr. Powell, who has been in the service of the United States since 1840, and had command of the place, acted in a gallant manner. After the troops had entered, he faced the line and thus addressed them :

"' Officers and Soldiers: Five minutes ago I was the commander of this arsenal; but, in consequence of the weakness of my command, I am obliged to surrender—an act which I have hitherto never had to do during my whole military career. If I had had a force equal to, or even half the strength of, your own, I'll be d—d if you would have ever entered that gate until you walked over my dead body. You see that I have but three men. These are laborers, and can not contend against you. I now consider myself a prisoner of war. Take my sword, Captain Jones!'

''Captain Jones, of the ' Young Guard,' of Quincy, received Mr. Powell's sword. and then returned it to him, and addressed him as follows:

" 'My dear Sir ! Take your sword! You are too brave a man to disarm !'

"The whole command then gave three cheers for the gallant Powell."

KENTUCKY FOR THE UNION.

A telegram dated Washington, January 24, says: There is great rejoicing here tonight, in consequence of the receipt of a dispatch from Mr. Garrard, Treasurer of Kentucky, announcing that the Legislature of that State has decided against calling a convention, which has been urged only by the secessionists. This is considered equivalent to a declaration against disunion. The Union men here from Kentucky and other border States, especially from Maryland, are congratulating each other at the noble stand taken by Kentucky, while the disunionists appear very much chagrined.

A letter received from Frankfort, Kentucky, tonight, says the Legislature passed a resolution authorizing the display of the national flag upon the State House, and the firing of thirty-three guns in honor of the Union. The flag was run up, and a committee was appointed to call upon Governor Magoffin to obtain his authority for using a cannon. He refused. The Union men then notified him that if he refused the use of the cannon they would take it. The Governor then assented, and the salute was fired amidst the greatest enthusiasm of the people.

THE LEGISLATURE OF LOUISIANA.

In the Legislature, on 22d, the Governor's Message was read. He says our enemies will find that throughout Louisiana we are one people, one in heart, one in mind, and are not to be cajoled into an abandonment of our rights, and not to be subdued. All hopes are at an end that the dissensions between the North and South can be healed. All the propositions of moderate men have been contemptuously rejected, and the cry of the North is for coercion. There is no longer a doubt of the wisdom of the policy which demands that the conflict shall come and be settled now.

The tone of the Message is uncompromising.

CONVENTIONS IN MISSOURI AND NORTH  CAROLINA.

The Missouri Legislature have passed a bill calling a State Convention, with a proviso that none of its acts shall be valid unless ratified by the people.

Both houses of the North Carolina Legislature have passed a bill calling a Convention, but with marked conservative clauses.

STOPPAGE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

The Louisville Journal of the 21st says : " We yesterday saw a highly respectable Kentuckian, a warm secessionist, direct from Vicksburg. We learn from him that it is a fact that a battery was planted on the shore of the Mississippi at Vicksburg so as to command the river. He says that a good many boats passing down were brought to, especially in the night, the object being to get possession of the Silver Wave , upon which it was said that the United States ordnance was to be transported to the South. A shot was fired across the bow of one boat and then the cannon was aimed directly at her; but it flashed without going off, and the boat rounded to. Three of the military companies of Mississippi were in charge of the battery, and they withdrew it from the shore on Tuesday last and seized the United States Hospital, which they are now occupying. They are, no doubt, resolved to seize upon all the United States property that they can lay their hands on."

THE LATEST FROM FORT SUMTER.

Captain Doubleday, writing from Fort Sumter, on the 20th inst., denies the report put in circulation by Charleston papers that disaffection exists among the garrison. He represents the troop as in cheerful spirits, and prepared to defend the fort to the last. He also states that mortars have been placed by the South Carolinians on the land nearest the fort, and that two steamers watched the fort all night on the 19th inst.

A LETTER FROM MAJOR ANDERSON.

A festival is to be given by the Masonic fraternity on the 30th instant in Albany. The following is an extract from a letter of Major Anderson, written by him in reply to an invitation to be present on the occasion :

" FORT' SUMTER, January 15, 1861. " Permit me to express the gratification your Union-loving sentiments have given me. The time is at hand when all who love the glorious Union, under whose flag the country has won the admiration of the civilized world, shall show themselves good and true men. Our fellow-countryman in this region have decided to raise another flag. I trust in God that wisdom and forbearance may be given by Him to our rulers, and that this severance may not be 'cemented in blood.'

" Regretting that it will not be permitted me to be with you on the 30th.   I am sincerely yours, " ROBERT ANDERSON,

" Major United States Army."

THE BUDGET OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

A bill has been introduced into the South Carolina Legislature to raise money for the expenses of the current year.

From the report accompanying the bill we learn that there was a deficiency in the supplies for the last fiscal year of $118,456, and that the ordinary wants for the present year are estimated at $615,000, making the aggregate to be raised for the ordinary expenses of the Government, $733,450. But for military purposes there will be required $914,000 more; so that the aggregate amount, to be raised this year by the State, is $1,647,436—or nearly three times as much as was raised last year.

WARLIKE PREPARATIONS AT PENSACOLA.

A telegram dated Pensacola, Wednesday, Jan. 23, says: Volunteers are engaged mounting and arranging cannon. Carpenters are making scaling ladders, and the utmost bustle prevails.

The Wyandotte has anchored to the westward of Fort Pickens, under the guns of the Fort. It is supposed she is to assist Lieut. Slemmer.

Pilots have been notified that they may bring United States war vessels inside the Harbor if they carry a flag of truce.

FIRING ON A BOAT FROM FORT SUMTER.

The men at the battery on the beach at Sullivan's Island fired into a boat from Fort Sumter on Monday night. Three men were in it, and as they approached the beach with muffled oars, the sentry hailed them and warned them off: but failing to obey the warning, the sentry fired their muskets into the boat, when it turned around and went away. Soon after a noise was heard like the hauling up of a boat at Fort Sumter. One man, it is said, was wounded badly. It is supposed by some that the object of the three men in the boat was desertion, but others think it was a desperate effort to run the gauntlet of the sentries and spike the guns of the batteries.

ALARM AT THE BROOKLYN NAVY YARD.

On Monday evening, in consequence of information received at the Brooklyn Navy Yard of the intention of a mob from New York to make an attack on the North Carolina and the yard one hundred marines were placed under arms to give them a warm reception should they make the attack. The police force was augmented, and posted where they could act in case of emergency, and the Fifth brigade of militia, under the command of Brigadier General Crooker, assembled at the Henry Street armory and the arsenal to support the marines, if necessary. No attack was made, however.

MR. LINCOLN AND THE SOUTHERNERS.

The Springfield (Ill.) Journal, of Monday, relates the following incident :

" An old man, hailing from Mississippi, dressed in plain homespun, came to our city Saturday. He mingled freely with the Republican Representatives, got their views, and seemed to think that we are not quite so black as we are represented. He called on Mr. Lincoln, talked freely with him, and heard the President-elect express his sentiments and intentions. He learned that Mr. Lincoln entertained none but the kindest feelings toward the people of the South, and that he would protect the South in her just rights. He had a long conversation, and went away delighted. He left the office of Mr. Lincoln in company with a friend, who communicates this to us, and when outside the door he remarked, while the tears stole down his furrowed cheeks: ' Oh ! if the people of the South could hear what I have heard, they would love, and not hate, Mr. Lincoln. I will tell my friends at home; but,' he added

sorrowfully, 'they will not believe me.' He said that he did wish that every man in the South could be personally acquainted with Mr. Lincoln."   -

DEATH OF LOLA MONTEZ.

Lola Montez died on 18th January in this city. The Post, in an article on her, says that, about four weeks ago, the Rev. Dr. Hawks was requested to call on her, and did so. He found her with her Bible open to the story of the Magdalen, and she expressed to her visitor her sincere anxiety in regard to her future welfare. At the same time she was hopeful. "I can forget my French, my German, my every thing," she said, "but I can not forget Christ." Before she died she purchased the little plot in Greenwood where she is now buried. On her coffin was a plate with the simple inscription: "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert, died January 17, 1861, aged 42 years." The name of Lola Montez, by which she was best known, was assumed when she went on the stage at Paris, professing to be a Spanish dancer. She subsequently adopted this name whenever she appeared in public.

PERSONAL.

Ex-President Tyler, the Virginia Commissioner appointed to wait upon the President and urge the avoidance of a collision with the secessionists, had an interview with Mr. Buchanan on 24th.

The Georgia Convention has elected Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, A. H. Stephens, and seven other delegates to the Convention which is to assemble at Montgomery to form a Slaveholding Confederacy.

Gen. Henningsen, the filibuster, who is an Englishman by birth, is now in Montgomery, Ala., and the Mail of that place expresses the hope that he will have a commission in the army of the Southern Confederacy.

An affecting parting took place on 24th between the President and Senator Fitzpatrick. The former said: "Governor, the current of events warns me that we shall never meet again on this side the grave. I have tried to do my duty to both sections, and have displeased both. I feel isolated in the world."

Col. David Page, a member of the Maine Legislature, from the Aroostook region, on his way from his home to the Capital, walked fifteen miles on foot, and ten miles on snowshoes, the snow being two and a half feet deep and unbroken.

Mr. Morgan, father of the Hon. E. D. Morgan, was thrown from his cutter while passing through Union Springs, N. Y., a day or two since, and seriously injured. His horse, was attacked by a large dog, which seized the horse by the nose, and hung on for over sixty rods. The cutter was broken into splinters.

A gentleman of Indianapolis informs us that on last Sunday in that city, at the closing exercises of a meeting at one of the Methodist Episcopal churches, Bishop Ames astonished and thrilled the congregation by the following prayer:

"We thank thee, O God! that while treason stalks abroad in high places, there is one man who loves his country! one man who will defend his country's flag! God bless and protect the gallant Major Anderson and his noble band!"   -

Billy Mulligan has been placed in comparatively agreeable appointment at Sing Sing. He has received the appointment of waiter, and is said to discharge its duties with a promptitude and reticence quite acceptable to the prison authorities.

FOREIGN NEWS.
ENGLAND.
LORD PALMERSTON ON DISUNION.

AT a dinner at Southampton on 8th January, Lord Palmerston said , "We have too much reason to fear that that Union, which has existed not much less than a century, which has conduced to the happiness and prosperity of our kinsmen on the other side of the Atlantic, is likely to be broken and disrupted. It is not our business to express, in regard to that event, any other feeling than this —that we wish, from the bottom of our hearts, that those disputes, whatever they may be, may be settled by an amicable understanding [Cheers]—and that, whether that Union is destined to remain unimpaired, or whether those States are determined to separate into different communities, our present prayer is that the result may be brought about by amicable means—be it for maintaining the Union or be it for dissolving the Union—[Hear, hear]—and that the world may be spared the afflicting spectacle of a hostile conflict between brothers and brothers."

LORD BROUGHAM ON THE JOHN BROWN RAID.

The following letter to James Redpath has been published :

"BROUGHAM, November 20, 1860. "Sir,—I feel honored by the invitation to attend the Boston Convention, and to give my opinion upon the question 'How can American slavery be abolished ?' I consider the application is made to me as conceiving me to represent the anti-slavery body in this country; and I believe that I speak their sentiments as well as my own in expressing the widest difference of opinion with you upon the merits of those who promoted the Harper's Ferry expedition, and upon the fate of those who suffered for their conduct in it. No one will doubt my earnest desire to see slavery extinguished ; but that desire can only be gratified by lawful means—a strict regard to the rights of property, or what the law declares property, and a constant repugnance to the shedding of blood. No man can be considered a martyr unless he not only suffers, but is witness to the truth; and he does not bear this testimony who seeks a lawful object by illegal means. Any other course taken for the abolition of slavery can only delay the consummation we so devoutly wish, besides exposing the community to the hazard of an insurrection, perhaps less hurtful to the master than the slave. When the British emancipation was finally carried it was accomplished by steps, and five years elapsed between the commencement of the measure in 1833 and its completion in 1838. The declaration of the law which pronounced a slave free as soon as he touched British ground (erroneously ascribed to the English Courts under Lord Mansfield, but really made by the Judges in Scotland) may seem to be inconsistent with the principles laid down. But I am bound to express my doubts if such a decision would have been given had Jamaica touched upon the coasts of this country. It is certain that the Judges did not intend to declare that all property in slaves should instantly cease, and yet such would have been the inevitable effect of their judgment in the case supposed, which somewhat resembles that of America.

"In the elevation of your new President all friends of America, of its continued union, of the final extinction of slavery by peaceful means, and of the utter immediate extinction of the execrable slave-trade, all friends of the human race must heartily rejoice. They will, let us hope, find in him a powerful ally, as his country may expect to find an aide, a consistent, and an honest ruler.

"I have the honor to be your faithful servant,

" BROUGHAM."

AN ENCOUNTER WITH A LION.

We read in the London Times of January 8 : " Yesterday morning a terrible encounter took place at Astley's Amphitheatre. An under-groom, named Smith, was literally throttled to death by one of the lions which play so prominent a part in the holiday entertainments at that favorite place of amusement. The lions, three in number, are confined in a cage at the back of the stage. When the night watchman left the theatre yesterday morning, a few minutes before seven, he reported 'all right.' Shortly afterward Smith, the deceased, entered the place, and found the lions prowling about. They had torn off a heavy iron bar which crossed the front of their cage, and then burst open the door. Smith was alone, and not being familiar with the animals, he attempted to escape into an adjoining stable-yard. His situation was a frightful one, and most men would have acted precisely as he did under similar circumstances; but the probability is that if he had stood his ground boldly his life would have been saved. Unfortunately, one of the lions—that which is known by the name of Havelock—caught sight of his retreating figure, and instantly sprang upon him. It seized him by the haunches, pulled him to the ground, and then fixed its teeth in his throat. Death must have been almost instantaneous ; but as Smith was found a good deal cut and

bruised at the back of the head, it is supposed that the lion, after burying its fangs in his throat, dragged him about and dashed his head against the ground. It seems, in fact, to have worried him, though the wounds inflicted by the brute are neither so numerous nor so severe as might have been expected. There were no cries for help, but a sort of shuffling noise was heard by a man in the stable-yard. He suspected what had occurred, and did not venture to open the door through which Smith had endeavored to escape; but he gave the alarm, and in a few minutes was joined by several grooms and others connected with the theatre. They were all, however, too much afraid to enter the place; and nothing was done to ascertain the fate of Smith until the arrival of Crockett, the Lion Conqueror, to whom the animals belong. As soon as he reached the spot he passed through the door alone, none of the others daring to follow. The body of Smith was lying face upward, a few feet from the door, and Havelock was crouching over it as a hungry dog hangs over a piece of meat. Crockett immediately threw the animal off and dragged the body into the yard. It was still warm, but life had been extinct for some time. A surgeon was sent for, but of course he could render no assistance. Crockett lost no time in securing the lions. They allowed hint to capture them easily enough. Even Havelock did not offer any resistance, and the other two, which had taken no part, in the terrible scene with Smith, seemed rather afraid than otherwise. In a few minutes all three were back in their cage again ; and last night they went through their usual performances before a crowded audience. Smith was unmarried. There will, of course, be an inquiry into the circumstances which attended the unhappy man's death."

A BREAD PANIC IN LIVERPOOL.

Quite a panic prevailed in some parts of Liverpool on the 9th inst. Rumors were afloat. that a mob had entered the bakers' shops and helped themselves, owing to the advance in the prices of bread, and the suspension of labor in consequence of the severity of the weather, and that a regular riot had broken out. A large number of shops were forthwith closed, and a feeling of alarm prevailed in the city. The reports, however, all proved groundless, when confidence was quickly restored.

FRANCE.

THE EMPEROR ON DISUNION.

The Paris correspondent of the Newark Advertiser gives the following interesting sketch of a conversation between the Emperor of the French and our minister, Mr. Faulkner, on New-Year's Day. After the usual greetings, the Emperor said :

"What is the latest intelligence you have received from the United States? Not so alarming, I trust, as the papers represent it ?"

"Like most nations, Sire," replied Mr. Faulkner, " we have our troubles, which have lost none of their coloring, as described in the European Press."

THE EMPEROR: "I hope it is not true that any of the States have separated from the general Confederation." MR. FAULKNER: "The States still form one common Government, as heretofore. There is excitement in portions of the Confederacy, and there are indications of extreme measures being adopted by one or two States. lint we are familiar with the excitement, as we are with the vigor, which belong to the institutions of a free people. "We have already more than once passed through commotions which would have shattered into fragments any other Government on earth; and this fact justifies the inference that the strength of the Union will now be found equal to the strain upon it."

THE EMPEROR: "I sincerely hope it may be so; and that you may long continue a united and prosperous people."

NO MORE PASSPORTS.

It is stated that a negotiation was pending between France and all other Continental States for the abolition of passports.

COTTON IN ALGERIA.

A letter from Paris, dated the 31st of December, purports to describe the views of the French Government as to the results to be obtained from the clause of the treaty with China legalizing the exportation of labor. "This has been done, no doubt," says the writer, "in reference to obtaining a supply of labor for the cotton lands in Algeria. The great immorality of the Chinese adults heretofore imported has caused the subject to receive a careful and earnest attention, and a plan has been proposed to import boys and girls, brought out under the care of priests and Sisters of Charity, who, on receiving them in China, will cleanse and clothe them, and begin immediately a religious and secular education. On arrival in Algeria, and being distributed among the planters, they will retain their teachers, and be ready to pick the cotton balls as they ripen. The cultivation of the land is to be effected by steam plows and horse hoes, as in this way an enormous area can be kept under culture at a small expense. The yield of cotton (as in the United States) being limited only by the number of pickers, cotton may be thus grown at half the cost of the American, owing to the difference in the value of land and slaves. In the year 1855 five bales of cotton were brought to Paris from Algeria, of the best quality; but the want of an organized system of labor, similar to the slave system of the States, caused the culture to be abandoned for a time. The great improvements in agricultural machinery have now removed this difficulty in part, and the importation of Coolie children will supply all that is required to insure success at the present time. The children sure to be apprenticed for twenty years, and to be always under supervision. When the picking season is finished, they are to be employed in raising their own food, and in weaving and making their own clothing. At the end of their apprenticeship they can marry and become citizens, with an allotment of land, or return to China as they please."

MILITARY PREPARATIONS.

The London Herald's Paris correspondent, speaking of the military preparations, says that by the middle of February, or at furthest at the beginning of March, France will possess an army of 640,000 men ready to march at a few hours' notice. Besides, the imperial Guard, representing a Corps d'armee of 40,000 men, is kept on a war footing. In addition, some 400,000 men retrain under arms, unbrigaded, in the various garrisons of the Empire.

ITALY.

AFFAIRS AT GAETA.

The intelligence from Gaeta is contradictory. One dispatch asserts that an armistice for ten days had been signed. Another says the Piedmontese had redoubled their vigilance and activity before Gaeta; and the Paris Moniteur says the negotiations for an armistice remained without result.

PICCOLOMINI'S BABY.

A Tuscan correspondent, describing a visit to that late favorite of the British public, Maria Piccolomini, now the Marchesa della Fargua says : " I was, during a fortnight, at a charming villa, three miles from Siena, the residence of the parents of our beloved and most celebrated artist, Maria Piccolomini, now Marchioness della Fargua, of the Dukes Caetani, and it was by a miracle that this dear creature did not find herself in tumult and great peril on the return of the Swiss, headed by that assassin, the too infamous Schmidt, in the city of Pieve, of which I will speak by-and-by. When I arrived at the Villa Piccolouini I found all the family reunited. Her sister, Laura, had, on the 8th of October, married a young Sienese, 23 years old, very rich, who possesses divers villas and a beautiful palace in Siena. An heir to the family of La Fargua is expected in April."

THE POPE AND THE EMPEROR.

A letter from Rome states that when General she Guyon on New-Year's Day solicited the Pope's blessing: for the French army, his Holiness volunteered to comprise the French navy, which was " defending the holiest of causes.

Seeing the Pope thus traveling out of the programme, general de Guyon asked him whether he had not a blessing for the Emperor, who had done so munch for religion in China and Syria. The Pope, apparently taken quite aback by this appeal, said, hurriedly, "Oh yes, for which done, is doing, and may do—I hope so."

71