BUT a few days since the British public were startled by the intelligence that the Empress of the French and her royal son, the Prince Imperial, had nearly lost their lives by drowning, on the coast of France.

We will venture to say that there were but few of our countrymen who read that intelligence in the newspapers of the day who did not shudder at this narrow escape from so terrible a calamity.

A calamity indeed would it have been, not only to that great but mysterious man whom Providence has placed over the French nation, and who, even" if his dynasty were to end to-morrow, would have so largely aided to mould the future of the whole of Europe, but to the world at large.

But apart from the political aspect of such a misfortune, so much has been done by the Emperor to win the regard and respect of Englishmen ; whilst the noble-mindedness, Christian charity, and womanly devotion to duty of his royal companion have likewise so won for her a greater admiration, and larger amount of personal affection from people of other nations than it has been often the lot of hereditary queens or empresses to command, that we feel sure, even viewed in a domestic light, that the warmest sympathies of the majority of the people of these islands were stirred up by this unexpected incident, and that the thanks of very many will have ascended to Heaven for the protection from harm thus vouchsafed to this eminent lady and her child.

The many virtues and amiable qualities of the Empress Eugenie are very generally known, at the head of which may perhaps be placed her noble courage in visiting the cholera and fever hospitals of Paris, regardless of the personal risk thereby incurred, and we now learn that when attempting to land in a small boat from the French steamer Chamois at the port of St. Juan de Luz, in a gale of wind, the boat in which were the Empress and Prince Imperial struck on a rock and filled with water— that a pilot who was in the boat was drowned; but, though presently the Empress was sitting in the water up to her waist, and the young Prince was nearly out of his depth, that " neither mother nor child lost their courage," and that, happily, both were landed in safety, and we have not now to mourn an irreparable European loss ! Generally known, however, as are the merits of the Empress, the connecting link which invites us now to notice briefly this interesting event is not known to many: it is, that Her Majesty is the Patroness of the French Life-boat Institution, " La Societe Centrale de Sauvetage des Naufrages," which society was founded in the year 1865, on the model of the NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION of England—a society in which the committee and members of the latter Institution will, we feel sure, always take a lively interest as a co-partner in a great and noble work. We may add that the English Institution has just been enabled to show its regard to the French sister Society by presenting to it the first-class life-boat, carriage, and equipment which have been exhibited since May last at the International Industrial Exhibition at Paris. It is probable the lifeboat will be stationed at Calais, a city which, besides being visited by many French and English vessels, is also one of the great ports of inter-communication between the two countries.