will be sent to the Sea of Japan, under the orders of a rear-admiral, who has long navigated in the Pacific Ocean and the Chinese seas. The expedition will, it is added, be at once military, commercial and scientific, and has for its object the opening to European commerce of ports which have been closed against it since the sixteenth century. We learn from Paris, that the Cabinet had held two councils, at which the President of the Republic presided, to discuss the Cuban affairs, and it was unanimously resolved to take, if necessary, efficient measures, with or without the concurrence of England, to protect the rights of Spain. Letters from Toulon state that the Mediterranean squadron has received orders to proceed forthwith to the coast of Italy. The disturbed state of the Peninsula, and especially of Naples, is said to be the cause of this movement on the part of the French. Naples, and indeed all Italy, is becoming daily more and more uneasy. In ITALY there is little of importance, except constant atrocities by the government, irritating more and more the people of the several states, and driving them toward such excitements as will make revolution unavoidable. An "Italian League of Princes" is talked of, at the head of which is to be Austria; and a visit of the Cardinal Prince Altieri to Lombardy is said to be for the purpose of coming to an understanding with that Court on the subject. The Pope would be nominal president of the league, the object of which is to preserve the peace of Italy, and unite in suppressing every revolutionary movement at home, and aggression from abroad. A profound sensation has been created throughout Europe by the publication of two letters by Mr. Gladstone, a member of the British Parliament, exposing the despotism of the government of Naples. Mr. Gladstone, a scholar, a man of academic reputation, an eminent member of the conservative party of English politicians, and distinguished among members of that party for his calm and logical mind, and for his profound views of the nature and functions of a church--this man went to Italy in the winter of 1850-51, and spent three months in Naples, where, against his will, he was convinced that the conduct of the government was more cruel and unjust than had ever before been tolerated in a civilized country. He returned to England to arraign the despot Ferdinand at the bar of public opinion. Of his disclosures we can merely state, that twenty thousand of the most intelligent and virtuous men in that kingdom are now suffering both moral and physical torture as prisoners of state. Besides this, a catechism is used in the schools inculcating the most absolute doctrines of despotic government. What is thus proved of Naples is equally true of Modena. In fact, it pervades Italy. The organs of the Neapolitan Government give the lie to Mr. Gladstone's statements, and hirelings have been employed in London and