ended in Austria securing herself the first place, and leaving Prussia to the second, at——the Old Frankfort
Diet! If the Prince can still enjoy a hearty laugh, the rafters of his castle of Johannisberg must have rung
again as he quietly sat himself down once more after his three years' exile. He has come back to find his
countrymen in a state of servitude and subjection which far exceeds any hope he could ever have had of
reducing them to, in his own days of power.

M. Leon Faucher, having at last undertaken to form a ministry for Louis Napoleon, has got one together
of which the peculiarity seems to be that not a single party of any kind in the country, whether of Thiers or
Barrot, Orleanist or Legitimist, White or Red, can be expected to support. But as every other combination
hitherto has been dispersed after a few days' trial, perhaps the oddity of this may help to keep it together
for a month.

The only political occurrence of note, in France, has
been the formation, after several failures, of a Ministry,
nearly similar to that which was thrown out in January
last. Its principal members are: M. Baroche, Foreign
Affairs; Rouher, Justice; Fould, Finance; Léon
Faucher, Interior; Buffet, Commerce; Chasseloup-
Laubat, Marine; General Randon, War; Magne,
Public Works. On the formation of this ministry
being announced to the Assembly, M. St. Beauve moved
a renewal of the vote of want of confidence passed in
January against the late Baroche Ministry, but the
motion was negatived by 377 to 275. The new ministry
has decided on a revision of the constitution, and
M. Léon Faucher is understood to contemplate sweeping
changes, of a conservative tendency, in the administration
of the departments.

The new opera of Sappho, by M. Gounod, a young
composer of great promise, has been interdicted by
M. Faucher, in consequence of its containing a song
beginning with the words " Peuple désherité." The
manager remonstrated with the minister on the subject,
quoting former precedents where much stronger sentiments
had been employed: to which the minister
rejoined, that what was permitted by the Monarchy
would not be tolerated by the Republic.

Seditious agencies are busy among the working-classes
in Paris, particularly in the quarter of St. Antoine.
Wages are low and work scanty. The great furniture
shops decline additions to their stock, unless brought at
prices below remuneration. The departments seem
agitated by alarming rumours and the appearance of
men in considerable numbers demanding work. At
St. Etienne between seven and eight hundred persons
had applied to be employed at the ateliers-nationaux ,
which they heard had been re-established, as in 1848,
by the municipality. The working classes of the same
place were in a state of ferment at rumours of
disturbances at Grenoble and Vienne.

The last accounts from Germany state, that, after an
infinity of discussions and negotiations, Austria has at
last accepted the proposition of Prussia, to restore the
old Germanic Diet at Frankfort, as it existed before
1848; but with certain modifications to be agreed upon
by the Dresden Conference, which still continues to
hold sittings.

An insurrection has taken place in Portugal. The
Duke of Saldanha, with the ostensible object of
displacing the Count de Thomar, raised the insurgent flag
at Cintra, on the 10th, and marched on Santarem,
expecting a large portion of the army to join him. In
this, it appears, he has been disappointed; and is stated,
by the last accounts, to be in a precarious situation, at
the head of a small body of troops, while the king's
forces were preparing to attack him.

Accounts from New York are to the 9th inst. Public
feeling is represented as becoming stronger and stronger
against the Fugitive Slave Act. The Ohio legislature
had passed resolutions by a large majority in favour of
a repeal of the obnoxious law, or, at least, a great
modification of it. The denial of juries to slaves put upon
their trial was condemned in a very emphatic manner.
Great excitement has been produced at Boston by the
arrest of a fugitive slave named Simms. The
abolitionists of Boston held a meeting, at which three clergymen
urged the blacks to shed blood, and tear up the
railways and prevent the return of the captive.
The American papers mention the repeated occurrence
of Lynch Law in the California community. A
drunken Englishman, who resided at Georgetown, lately
murdered his wife by shooting her with a rifle, because
she refused to give him money to gamble with. It
being Sunday, and the streets full of people, the house
instantly filled. The wife was a decent woman, who
had supported her family by her industry, and her fate
roused the indignation of the multitude. The man was
seized, and hurried to an eminence overlooking the
town. The people were persuaded to wait till an
investigation should take place; the coroner was sent for,
and, to save time, a jury was selected to be ready for
his arrival. But the patience of the mob soon gave
way; they dispersed the jury, seized the man, and
carried him off to hang him from the branch of a tree. At
the head of the procession the murderer marched to his
gallows, and the body of his wife was borne close
behind him. A small box, marked "For the Orphans,"
was nailed to the tree, and many an ounce was poured
into it from the purses of those who followed the
father to his death. The body of the murdered woman
was lowered into a wide pit; and, even while the
wretched man gazed upon it, the cord suddenly tightened
around his neck, and he swayed in the air. The
mob sat on the hillside, and sternly watched him. At
the end of half an hour he was cut down, and laid in
the grave by the side of his wife. In the evening the
coroner arrived, and, upon hearing the story, summoned
his jury for morning. They met at sunrise upon the
hill, and stood around the unfilled grave, while the end
of a cut cord dangled above their heads. After a few
words had been exchanged, and, after laying a slip of
paper upon each of the bodies, they proceeded to fill up
the grave. Upon one of the slips was written,
"Murdered by—Divine, her husband," and upon the other,
"Died according to the will of God and justice of men."

Another case, not less remarkable, has taken place at
Sacramento. Two men quarrelled in a gaming-house;
a third, attempting to interfere, was shot through the
head by one of the disputants. The murderer (a young
man named Roe), was instantly seized, and carried to
a police-station. A meeting immediately assembled in
front of the station; a committee was appointed to
investigate the circumstances, and they made a formal
report that the prisoner was guilty. The crowd, with
loud shouts, battered down the door of the station-
house, dragged out the unhappy wretch, and carried
him in procession to an open place in the city, where
he was deliberately hanged from the branch of a tree;
the attendance of a clergyman having been obtained.
"The crowd," says the newspaper account, "to witness
the solemn scene did not number less than five thousand.
Everything was conducted in an orderly but firm manner;
and, after the duties of the clergyman were over,
the prisoner was launched into eternity amid a profound
silence which pervaded the vast multitude."

The situation of Yucatan is becoming more and more
deplorable. The apathy of the inhabitants encourages
their ferocious enemies in their efforts to exterminate
the white race. A conspiracy was detected on the 13th
of February in the city of Merida. It was formed by
the convicts in the city prison, in conjunction with some
of the soldiers. The plan was arranged to release the
prisoners, assassinate the city officers, and then plunder
and burn the town. The plot was discovered a short
time before it was to have been carried into effect. The
ringleaders were arrested and condemned to death, but
the execution of the sentence has been postponed; and
the case has since been transferred to the city of Mexico,
and still remains undecided.