ous as those perpetrated in New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land, truly indicate the depth of moral depravity. It is difficult indeed to form an adequate conception of the frightful degree of crime which the above tables express; suffice it to say, that they show, that in proportion to the respective population of the two countries, the number of convicts for highway-robbery, including bushranging, in New South Wales exceeds the total number of convictions for all offences in England, that rapes, murders, and attempts at murders, are as common in the former, as petty larcenies in the latter country. In order to give an idea of the amount of crime in

New South Wales, let it be supposed, that the 17,000 offenders, who last year were tried and convicted in this country (England) for various offences before the several courts of assizes and quarter sessions, had all been condemned for capital crimes; that 7,000 of them had been executed, and the remainder transported for life; that in addition 120,000 other offenders had been convicted of the minor offences of forgery, sheepstealing and the like; then, in proportion to their respective populations, the state of crime and punishment in England and New South Wales would have been precisely the same."

will triumph over the perils with which it is threatened; but I applaud myself for having preserved France from sacrifices, the extent of which cannot be appreciated, and from the incalculable consequences of any armed intervention in the internal affairs of the Peninsula. France reserves the blood of her children for her own cause; and when she is reduced to the painful necessity of summoning them to shed that blood in her defence, it is only under her own glorious colours that the soldiers of France march to battle."

"We have experienced painful losses in Africa, they have deeply afflicted my heart; my second son has shared the sufferings and dangers of our brave soldiers, as his brother had done before him. If success has not attended the efforts of our soldiers, at least their valour, their perseverance, and their admirable resignation, have worthily sustained the honours of our banner. You will feel disposed with me to insure to our arms in Africa the preponderance which ought to belong to them, and to our posses sions complete security."

"An attempt has threatened my life. Providence has averted the blow directed against me. The testimonies of affection with which France has surrounded me, and which you have just renewed, are the most precious rewards for my labours and my devotion,"

"An attempt at insurrection, equally senseless and criminal, for a few moments astonished a great

The king, in an altered tone, interpolated these words, in reference to the assassination which he had the moment before escaped on his way to the chambers, and which is noticed in the preceding volume.

It

city, whose repose, however, was not disturbed by the event. has served only to display the fidelity of our brave army, and the good spirit of the population." (Renewed acclamations.)

The impotence of so many guilty efforts begins at length to weary the passions and to discourage their audacity. Time has already calmed many animosities, and daily softens the duties which circumstances have imposed on my government."

"I have been enabled to follow the desire of my heart, in pardoning men, struck by the laws of the land. I confined myself to such as submitted to the authority of those laws. It is thus that I have thought myself at liberty to exercise the most precious right conferred upon me by the charter, without weakening any of the guarantees of order, or any of the principles of our legislation. Independently of the laws which have been already presented to you, and which will again be submitted to your deliberations, you will have to occupy yourselves with several bills, some of which concern my family, and others are directed towards the completion of our legislation.

"Our finances are in a most prosperous state. The public revenue will exceed the ordinary expenses of the state. Measures conformable to the wish manifested during the last session will be proposed to you, as soon as the return of the abundance of capital will permit my government to do

so.

The commercial embarrassments, which have been felt in other countries, have exercised but a feeble influence on our internal prosperity. We have to deplore, in some localities, sufferings which we

are endeavouring to assuage. I have reason to hope that they will be but momentary, and that an increase of wealth will everywhere insure the welfare of the population."

To arrive more expeditiously at this happy result, and to endow France with the advantages promised to her by the progress of the sciences and the national prosperity, I have given orders that an important mass of public works, to be undertaken, shall be submitted for your deliberation. Already the sums which you have voted, for the improvement of the roads in the west, have changed the aspect of the country, and destroyed the germ of civil discord. In the course of this session, the roads remaining to be formed, the navigation of rivers, the establishment of canals, ports, and railroads, will be the objects of important propositions, as well as those monuments and public institutions, which attest, and still further augment the greatness of France."

Having pronounced this speech, his majesty retired, followed by the acclamations of the assemblage. The recent attempt of the assassin Meunier (which is described in our last volume) made the occasion particularly interesting, and the assembled statesmen and deputies, no less than the monarch, displayed great emotion. Immediately after the sitting, the members of the two chambers proceeded to the Tuileries, with a view to congratulate his majesty on his providential escape. The deputies marched on foot, in a long procession, headed by their temporary president, through the garden of the Tuileries. The king thanked the members of both chambers in

very impressive terms, and conversed freely upon the subject with the deputies, who were grouped around him. He gave a minute account of the event, adding, "I know not how I escaped; as at the moment the report was heard, I had my head very much advanced towards the door of the carriageNemours, who was also leaning forwards, had his head against the glass."

M. Dupin was re-elected president of the chamber of deputies; and the standing committees of the chamber then proceeded, according to custom, to appoint the committee to prepare the draught of the address. This body consists of nine members, one being elected by each of the committees, besides the president of the chamber, who, ex-officio, belongs to it. In the committee named, the ministers secured a majority of three, even assuming the neutrality of the president. M. Thiers was on the list of those elected.

M. Duchatel, the financial minister, presented his budget for 1838, on the 4th of January. He introduced it by a rather glowing description of the rapid advances made by the country, since the year 1830; and having contrasted the commercial condition of France in 1829, the most flourishing era of the Restoration, with the same as exhibited in 1835; he declared the difference, in favour of the latter period, to be no less than 372,000,000 francs. With regard to that much agitated question, the reduction of the 5 per cent. stock, he said, that while he considered the measure to be perfectly just and legal, he doubted how far it would be prudent to carry it into effect, in the present situation of the financial world, both at

home and abroad; and should prefer to wait, till the accumulation of a greater abundance of capital in the country might render the operation of less questionable expediency. In support of his views, he called the attention of the chamber to the commercial embarrassments that had so lately prevailed in the United States and England, at Amsterdam, and at Hamburgh; and reminded members of the very satisfactory position which had been assumed by the bank of France during that crisis. In the course of the preceding six months, that establishment, while, on the one hand, it abstained from raising the rate of its discounts, had, on the other, rendered very important services to the government, and that too, during a period at which, owing principally to foreign causes, the commercial and manufacturing interests of France exhibited considerable langour. But he added that, although ministers did not then think the moment arrived for proposing the reduction of the 5 per cents., he would undertake to state, that no sooner would a favourable opportunity present itself, than they would hasten to demand from the chamber the powers required to carry so desirable an operation into effect. When he had explained the ministerial views upon this question, he entered upon that which related to colonial and indigenous sugar. After detailing the difficulties encountered by the government in their endeavours to frame a bill for imposing an excise on beetroot sugar; he gave it as his opinion, that that commodity should, in common with other manufactured articles, be subjected to a tax; and he thought that, at the same

Before he sat down, he presented a bill for authorizing the government to apply the reserve of the sinking fund to public works ;one for reducing the duty on colonial sugars; and one respecting the caisse de consignations, savings' banks, &c.

M. Gasparin, the minister of the Interior, presented a bill, the object of which was to insure to the government a monopoly of telegraphic establishments. "The subject," observed M. Gasparin," is certainly one of importance, and no doubt, communications of this nature may be made instruments of great public mischief; for instance, if the news of the insurrection at Lyons had been transmitted by telegraph, not only to St. Etienne, but in various other directions, the rising might have become general." The telegraph was also applicable to other improper purposes-for instance, very recently at Tours, one had been in use, for the purpose of transmitting intelligence of a nature to affect the public funds, and had facilitated a great deal of fraudu