required reinforcements at once sent
forward, or would have resigned his office. The Government and its
agents have also been blamed for not more promptly despatching vessels
to search for the passengers who got off in boats from the steamer
Amazon, destroyed by fire off Scilly. It is possible that by timely
action many lives might have been saved.

The danger of a French invasion is much dwelt upon by the British press,
and there have been rumors of a great increase in the army with a view
to such a contingency. These rumors do not seem to be well founded, nor
can we believe the danger very imminent. Certain parties regard the
whole as rather a fetch of the Ministry, to strengthen them at the
opening of Parliament, by removing attention from home matters, and by
uniting the nation in a common burst of patriotism. If this be so, the
trick is a poor one, for if there was real danger of a war, the present
ministry would not be likely to be trusted with carrying it on.

Is France, the march of despotism continues, with rapidity, and apparent
safety. On the 15th of January Louis Napoleon published his new
"constitution," of which the chief provisions are, that the President
reserves to himself to designate, by a sealed will, the citizen to be
recommended to the nation as his successor in the event of his death. He
commands the land and sea forces; he alone can propose new laws; he can
at any time declare the state of siege. His Ministers responsible to
none but him, and each for his respective duties only; they may be "the
honored auxiliaries of his thought," but they are not allowed to be "a
daily obstacle to the special influence of the chief." The Council of
State, whose members the President is to nominate and dismiss at his
pleasure, is to put into shape the laws he intends to propose to the
mock Legislature. The Senate, nominated for life by the President, and
to any of whose members he may grant a salary of 30,000 francs, "may
propose modifications of the Constitution:" its deliberations are
secret. The Legislature is to consist of a deputy for every 35,000
electors, elected by universal suffrage, for six years. The President
convokes, adjourns, prorogues, and dissolves this body at his pleasure;
he nominates its President and Vice-President; the official minute of
its proceedings, drawn up by the Bureau, is all that is allowed to be
published; it cannot initiate any law; amendments on laws submitted to
it by the Pr