In Chili, the rebel army of 13,000 men, commanded by Carrera and Arteaga, was met by 850 Government troops at Petorca, about forty leagues from Santiago, on the 14th of October. They fought three hours, and the result was the total defeat of the former, with a loss of 70 killed, 200 wounded, and 400 prisoners, including 36 officers. Carrera and Arteaga have not been taken. The Government army, under Colonel Vidaure, lost 15 killed and 15 wounded. 400 of the Government troops had gone by sea to join Bulnes's army; the remainder had sailed for Coquimbo, so that the affair in the North may be considered quelled. In the South, General Cruz had an army of 400 regulars, and 2,500 militia, the latter badly armed and clothed. He had not left the Province of Conception. Bulnes was expected on the frontier of that province with 1,000 troops of the line and 300 militiamen, all well armed, clothed, and paid. He appeared determined to run no risks, and it was generally supposed he would soon restore order and quietness. In Ecuador, the Presidency of General Urbina has been acceptable, and it is probable that peace will be maintained for some time. Peru is in perfect tranquillity, and this peaceable state is greatly contributing to its advancement. Bolivia is also in peace, although the Congress has not fulfilled the promises with which it began its meetings. At first, some of the members dared to claim reforms in the Government, but they were silenced, and that body will close its session without having done any thing except abolishing Quina Bank, a measure which Government had resolved.
Throughout all parts of Europe there seems to be a well grounded apprehension of an extraordinary effort to put down every species of despotism during the coming year. An impression prevails that the occasion of the presidential election in France will be seized on for a general rising, not only in that country, but in Italy, Germany, and Hungary, and the Revolutionary Congress, in London, of which the presiding genius is Mazzini, will predetermine affairs for all the States, so that each shall have the greatest possible advantage. Governor Kossuth will be back in time to assume the general leadership in northern and eastern Europe.
From England we have intelligence of no important movement since the departure of Kossuth. No subject attracts more attention than that of the extensive and systematic emigration which is taking place to America and Australia. We learn from the report of the Registrar-General, for the three months ended 30th September last, that during those months 85,603 emigrants sailed from the several ports at which government emigration agents are stationed. This is at the rate of nearly 1,000 persons a day. It is probable that one-half of the total number were Irish. Of the 85,603, 68,960 sailed for the Atlantic ports of the Union; and the remaining 16,643 were distributed in the proportions of 9,268 to British North America, 6,097 to the Australian colonies, and 1,278 to other places. So far, the total emigration of 1851 exceeded that of the corresponding period of 1850, and the emigration of 1850 exceeded that of any former year. The Ecclesiastical Titles Bill remains a dead letter. The Roman Catholic prelates assume and are called by the prohibited titles, and no steps are taken to enforce the law. The attendance of Roman Catholics on the "Godless Colleges" does not appear to have abated, and the Roman Catholic journals complain of the extent of proselytism from their Church. The Submarine telegraph between England and France has been completed, and messages between Paris and London have been transmitted in half an hour. The event was celebrated by the firing of cannon alternately at Calais and Dover, the fire for each explosion being communicated by the electric current from the side of the channel opposite the gun. An announcement is made by the Times of the intended creation of a fourth Presidency in India, and a proposal to remove the seat of government from Calcutta to Lahore. The new province is to be constituted by the spacious province of the Punjab, to which, on the east, it will annex the broad districts of Agra and Bengal, up to the banks of the Sone, embracing the populous and important cities of Allahabad and Benares, To the southwest it will include our anomalous appendage of Scinde, and will thus extend itself from the Hindoo Kosh to the mouths of the Indus, and from the mountains of Beloochistan to the plains of the Ganges.
On the 24th November, about seventy of the principal merchants and gentlemen in Liverpool, and the members of the American Chamber of Commerce, entertained R. J. Walker, late Secretary to the Treasury of the United States, at dinner at the Adelphi Hotel.
The French Legislative Assembly was opened on the 4th of November with a long message from President Bonaparte. A disorderly and excited discussion took place on the 18th, on the proposition of the Questors of the Assembly to put the army in Paris directly under the orders of that body, thereby removing it from the control of the Minister of War and the President. The final vote was 300 for the proposition to 408 against it. The mass of the Republicans opposed it, though General Cavaignac and some of his immediate friends voted in the affirmative. The principal topic of discussion in the Assembly has been the Communal Electoral law. After long discussion, a clause has been adopted, making the time of residence necessary to qualify a citizen to vote in the communal or township elections, only two years instead of three as in the general electoral law. This is regarded as a departure from the rigor of that law and a step toward universal suffrage. It is thus a triumph for the President, who seems, on the whole, decidedly to have gained ground lately. Yet no real progress appears to have been yet made to a settlement of French difficulties, except in so far as every month added to the existence of a new government, the result of a revolution, consolidates it, and enlists in its favor the conservative sentiment.
The prizes of the lottery of L'Ingots d'Or were drawn in the Champs Elysées on the 16th. An immense crowd attended. A journeyman hair-dresser obtained the prize of 200,000 francs, and an engine-driver on a railway the first prize of 400,000 francs.
General Narvaez has returned to Spain, and is again in favor with the queen.
The new King of Hanover, George the Fifth, has published a proclamation, in which he pledges his royal word for "the inviolable maintenance of the constitution of the country." Yet he has abandoned the policy of the late king by appointing a reactionist ministry.
The Austrian currency appears to be in a worse condition than even our own "continental" at the close of the Revolution. The proprietors of houses have again raised their rents 20 and 25 per cent, and the seniors begin to talk of the Bancozettel period, when 100 florins in silver sold for 700 florins in paper, and a pair of boots cost 75 paper florins. Government itself has indirectly countenanced the depreciation of the currency: the Finance Minister by the conditions of the loan, and the Director of the Imperial theatre by raising the price of admittance from 1fl. 24k. to 1fl. 48k., although the salaries of the actors are less than formerly, as they have to pay the income tax.
The Russians have discovered four important veins of silver ore in the Caucasus—one in the defile of Sadon, another in that of Ordona, a third in that of Degorsk, and the fourth near Paltchick. The veins are rich in the yield of silver. The working of them has already been commenced.