The Express. — London, England, 1852-01-15 00:00:00

ghe erllrtfsts. TO CORRISPONDENTS. • Mend Milne if " Tbe Ripens," aniline dee ease enable, " be p Odense; le paten:Ad every Tamil sad Maw elght, ti.. en. Adneuenseedelaberted Mr " Tb• 4weak" Laden F. rung pope, sem In at the teaks. W, Ileavennienet. W Two e'en** ea the dmy el ;enameled. RION WATER AT LONDON BRIDOR. Trr Divt-711arulas. N. lbs. Aftimisna. AA. 47a re.mmaiw—yangas. K Um. .... t,ll. LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 13. RVIIOUR has it, that instead of seeking to strengthen himself by a frank and cordial ac ceptance of popular condition*, Lord JiniN is resolved upon trying to evade them; and that, while he affects to ignore the existence of all claims to political lead ership, he is not unwilling to pick up adherents wherever they are to be found. A few small offices have, it is said, been condescendingly offered to a few small men—the great poets being retained in as strict monopoly as before—for the benefit of the " great families". Thiswill' not do. Equal eligibility to administra tive trusts and dignities is a broad and intelligible principle, or it is nothing. In any other sense con- troversy on the subject were a waste of word.--a mere contention about personal pre-eminence, an idle strife concerning particular individuals where public attention is in reality fixed on the recognition of popular rights. It can hardly be necessary fur us to say that we have never put forward the personal pretensions of any man, or set of men, to share in tho government. Neither shall we ever stop to measure intellectual inches of capacity between the fourth or fifth rote persons who may be taken in tow by disdainful whiggery. With rival claims and in vidious comparisons we have nothing to do. Our business is with classes whose just rights have been usurped by a grasping oligarchy ; and only with political men of note who, by their identity of origin, their active services, or their conspicuous talents displayed in defence of their own order. may fairly be taken to represent them. A wealthy squire or a pallid lordling who, to gain a seat fur a contested borough, gulps any pledge that his agent tells him it is prudent to swallow, is no more a represen tative of the industrious, thinking, patient, and conscientious middle classes of English society than a painted pauper on the stage is a king, or a muslin-winged opera girl with her tinsel finery and impotent wand is a genuine enchantress. With an inadequate suffrage and without the protection of the ballot, 14 perplexed constituency arc no doubt sometimes willing to choose Lord Gambler's son or Sir Somebody at i.cacre. who is pledged to maiu lain everything liberal that is certain not to be altered, in pref erence to the old tury lord of the manor, or the bigh•church son of the Earl of ha:Mi l :ate. But with the people the ono species of candidate has as little sympathy as the other ; and the promotion of the former to obscure or sinecure placer (or political servants-out-of-livery, is felt to have just as little to do with the solution of the great social question—Are the plebeians of England to be excluded from power because they re plebeians? W hat do the mercantile and manufacturing classes care at whose dinner table the pliant member for Snug-borough made himself agreeable; or by what hospitalities the playful member for Triatiny'em contrived to ingratiate himself with some ministerial patron. Of what good is such enlistment of the fifers and drummers, unless those who lead, and who arc competent to lead it, take their legitimate rank in the allied host? To the calm and single-minded view of the sections of society to which we are adverting, there is neither satisfaction nor pride in seeing some half-dozen of the representative rank and tile dis appear from their side, and suddenly present them selves in dumb show at the ministerial window. How these adroit gentlemen may have made their way them, is' matter of no interest to the people. They want to see the captains of industry," whom they confide in, summoned to enter by the public door the council chamber of the state. When they be hold this they will feel the galling yoke of inequa lity removed,—but assuredly not till then. So also with the men of intellectual worth, who, instead of devoting the prime of their youth to the acquisition of money, have laboured to acquire pecu liar stores of knowledge, or to attain a rare pro ficiency in the exercise of some particular gift or art. 'fo these, insulted as they now feel themselves to be by the oppressive patronage of hereditary dulness. or the stupid assumption of exclusive fitness for the most difficult of all arts—the art of skilful rule—to these what compensation can it he to find that a few dilettauti public men or amateur performers of radical parts upon occasion, have persuaded the l'rime Minister to forgive their holiday freaks of opinion for sake of their old and respectable county connexions, and to forget their sentiment of liberalism in the sincerity of their landlordism? None whatever. "A breath unmakes them as a breath has made." Their tenure of powerless office, ike their admission thereto, depends on the humour ur the digestion of some whimsical oligarch or privi leged clique. Never will the true or rightful position of men of genius, learning, or eloquence be secured ur bettered by such instances of aristocratic caprice. It is not favour or fortune for this individual or for that which is worth arguing for; it is the concession of the right of the class to be represented by their best and foremost men (not by their feeblest and supplest), in the administration of the realm. And this we demand in their name. Who are the foremost and who the best may be matter of dispute —possibly even of sincere doubt with those on whom the task of making a selection necessarily would fall were a choice about to be made. But the same diffi cult arises under all circumstances. Even among the dukes and their cousins, there are notori ously degrees of incapacity and grades of un fitness. The perplexity how to determine between competing reputations for ability may, therefore, bo set aside as a threadbare excuse. In reality " there's no such thing ;" but if there were, what then ? The people of this country are not biahsd into personal factions, nor do they wear the rival tartans of political clans. The eleratsaa at mas mime man of the commonalty before mem might Ism Ilts subject of after-diner talk We day 4 tw s i their parti cular friss& ; Nave se pointment, wire inweetbil It, modd gad no toleration from a and enlightened pub lic ; and any attempt to give utterance topaltry and egotistical feelings of the sort would simply pro voke ridicule. On the other hand, however, the public are too clear-sighted not to detect attempts at the miserable imposition by which genuine merit, long standing and conspicuous talent, would be passed by, in order to elevate inferior men. There is an easy and ready test which may in most cases be applied. From the middle ranks of the community when small men are selected. it is almost invariably to discharge small duties and to perform subordinate functions. It is only nobles by birth who are statesmen at starting, and who are named to the cabinet without having the capacity to bo head clerks. Men of the people who have, in the estimation of parliament and of the country, asserted their real equality with the boat of the bureaucrats by birth, will not consent to own an inferiority which nobody believes to exist, by going apprentice to the Tamils. They have served their time out of office, and in doing so have in many in stances learned more than their lordly rivals have been able to acquire by the most approved method of official cramming. We say . not this as disparag ing the value of ordinary training for . young men; but rather to scout the preposterous impertinence which, because it has been suffered to exclude all plebeian. from an under-graduate career in Down ing street, would presume to question the solidity of their attainments, or the value of their contributions to political knowledge. In our view the matter is reducible to a very plain alternative. Either the whigs can go on governing' the empire fur and by their own selfish mate, or they cannot. If they can, they will never yield one particle of power to any one whose interests and in stincts are not in their sense indubitable. They may, as we have said, make a chow of conferring office on certain adds and ends of the Commons ; but no office that can be truly said to be " conferred" ever wail accompanied with power. If, on the contrary, a growing sense of their inherent weakness shall bring them to seek allies in the middle claaces ot• the nation, they must doff their outworn an. of do urination and superiority, and treat upon the bags of confessed equality. IT is an historical mistake to core the coup d' eltat of Louts N%POLSON and the • which has grown of it to that of the lathßrumaire and the consular constitution which succeeded it. The 18th Brumaire was marked by the facility with which it was accomplished, in broad daylight, with out the shedding of one drop of blood, or the com mitting of one act of vengeance. What rendered the revolution of the lath Brumaire possible and even popular, was the preceding coup ilitat of l"ructidor, 1797, which rendered the Directory odious, and made the constitution a mockery, equally powerless to attract sympathy or command respect. There aro a great many points, indeed, which create a resemblance between the coup (raid of De cember, 1652, and that of Fruetidor, 1797. One circumstance common to both is the wholesale depor tation of those supposed to be hostile to the measure to the pestilential climate of Cayenne. The govern ment, that is the majority of the directors, consist ing of BARK %A, REWAY.LL, and LAREVEILLERE, hav ing lost the majority in the upper and lower horses, determined to dissolve them, and get rid of their opponents by. intimidation, imprisonment, or exile. PietieGau was the CHANG tItNIF:It of that day, the general on which the assemblies relied, and CAR(OT was their CAVAIMISC. l'tenetisu was arrested in the night. Casson escaped. Those deputies and senators favourable to the go vernment were convoked in a new and sepa rate hall of meeting. When their colleagues pre sented themselves at the Tuileries, which was their old and habitual place of meeting, the soldiery for bade their entrance and drove them away with their bayonets; upon which, trying to meet elsewhere, they were arrested and sent to different prisons. There was ono strung sentiment then pervading society, a sentiment which durst not be outraged even by those who were prepared to outrage all others; and that was a horror of the guillotine, an aversion to blood. And the same prevails strongly down to this very time. So much so that there was no one thing that fermi public opinion more strongly against the lloultinNs, than their execution of political victims, such as NET and the four sergeants of La Rochelle. HARASS was there fore compelled to invent a punishment short of death, though akin to it. And it was deportation to Sinna mari, as a slip of land along the coast in the colony of Cayenne was called. In the men condemned were sixty deputies and senators, and about fifty editors and writers for the press. The fate of those who were dAporti's was what might have been expected. Active men and soldiers, likePteneortu, soon escaped from their worse than galleys. The journalist fell a victim to the climate. BARBA-MARRON, who lived to an advanced age, surrounded by wealth and ho nour, has left in his memoir a touching account of his sufferings under a sentence intended to be worse than death. What killed the republic in France, what discre dited even the principle of a first magistracy, or a government, chosen by election, was that popular election which could raise to the head of the state creatures at once so infamous and so cruel as BARRAS, 80 contemptible as RETEILLERE and ltEw BELL With power in such hands, society was not insured against a re-erection of the guillotine, or against the inflic tion by arbitrary decree of punishments which were a refinement upon death. The trans portation to Cayenne was nothing less. This it ;was which undermined the directorial constitution. fhis it was that enabled BONAPARTE to turn the legislature out hr his bayonets. This it was that reconciled France to a new constitution, concocted by SIETES, a constitution in which the principle of popular representation was omitted, and the mockery attempted of a free and liberal govern ment without it. The coup (Mot of Dec., 1851, is a counterpart, not of that of the 18th Brutnaire, which had some excuse, some generosity, and which did not shock public opinion; it is a counterpart of BARRAS'S coup traat in 1797. In personal character and position Louts NAPOLEON far more resembles BARRAS than he does his uncle. NII'OLEON was a man who despised money, toil cared not for either convivial or immoral indulgences. The character of BARRAS we need not depict. The dispersal, seizure, and impri sonment of the deputies and senators in Fructidor was brutally managed by Atontr.su. We need not say that General St. ARNAUD followed that model, and not the example of the 18th Brumaire. The iliyorMs of Fructidor were carried off in iron cases. The cellular vans in which CILANGARNIER and LA- IiOnICIERE were trotted off to 11am were equally humiliating and incommodious. The press, swept clean away in Fructidor, did not survive to be de stroyed in Brumaire. How B.txass filled his pockets after Fructidor is well known. How the rail road concessions, together with the inexplicable rise and too natural fall in the French funds, have poured money into the Elysi , e, is equally known to all the world at present. The Directory after Fructi dor introduced the Progretaire Direct Impost to punish the royalists, and NAPOLEON alter the 18th Brumaire abolished them, and reared the more equitable system of finance. And instead of pro scribing and confiscating, as BARILAS had persisted in doing, NAPOLEON opened France to the emigrant snd restored to him what he could of his property. In these recent events, then, Louts Nsroceox does not come forward as the copyist of his uncle. On the contrary, ho carefully avoids everything that was generous, great, and just in the conduct of that military usurper. Loris NAPOLEON'S model is BARRAS. Ills coup d'Atat is that oven more of the ro'e than of the soldier. His financial schemes, his policy, his vin dictiveness, his ploughing and harrowing of society, instead of providing for its tranquillity,—all this is the restoration of 1797 rather than of 1799. It is a resuscitation of Directorial tyranny and turpitude, rather than of imperial sagacity and usurpation. The ministers whom he has chosen, and the acts which signalise his government, recall the worst days and the worst school of the French revolution. There can be no virtue or secure order under a tyranny that sets justice, humanity, and decorum at defiance, and which cannot exist apparently Without daily insults and outrages, inflicted by turns upon evesy class and every grade of French society. Tim ENGINEF.ItIe STAHEL—Yesterday the esta blishment of Messes. Horn, machinists, of Whiteehapel, was suddenly closed, it having been stated that the Arm had on Saturday UMW to an arrangement with the men. It wee understood among the members of the Amalgamated Society, that Maus. Lees and Barnes, of Manchester, had closed their works; while Mears. Saville and Co. had re tained only their millwrights. In the council of the society a resolution was yesterday passed, calling upon workmen in employ to set aside a day's wages per week in aid of the unemployed. A well - attended meeting of boilerm a k er' was held last evening at the Lambeth Temperance Hall, when a resolution pledging the men nut to take situations upon terms opposed to the interests of the trades alaoCille Stub, wee adopted. At a meeting of the employer,' com mittee, it was resolved that the various firms should make a point of stopping their engines entirely until other in structions were issued by that committee. THE PUTRID " PRESERVED teAte."—(To the Editor of the Erpryss.)—Loodon, January 13, 18.52. Sir,— On reading the accounts of the examination at °ca pon of " preserved mesh.," one cannot but be reminded that the bad quality of food supplied to her Majesty's ships was one of the principal causes of the mutiny at the Nore, at a time when everything depended upon the nary; sad as just now we have more particularly to look forward to the necessity of keeping that branch of the service free from discontent, and in a state of thorough efficiency, it is to be hoped that everything will be done by the Admiralty Board to ensure ship's stores being of good quality. With the mutiny of the Nore before them, let them remember how nearly wu our country's honour perilled on a ques tion of provisions, and that poor Jack" ought no longer to be obliged to complain of beef which has acquired the nickname of " mahogany."—AA 01111111VSZ. COLLINTON AT LIVF.IIPOOI..—On Tuesday nig ht a serious collision took place near the mouth of the N ersey, between the steam-ship Clarence and the ship Gladiator, which has produced much injury to property, but, so far u we have been able to learn, with no personal injury. The Clarence, recently built by Mr. I. of Birkenhead, com manded by Captain Wiseman, and now on her first voyage, left port that morning for Sydney, New South Wales. The weather liking thick, the ship Gladiator, from Dantsig fur Liverpool, rail into the Clarence, and carried away her mixetimut and bulwarks. The steamer was so much in jured, that she had to return to port, where she arrived at II o'clock yesterday morning, and went into Birkenhead Dock at high water fur repairs. The (Radiator was also much injured, and leaking. ItAILViAT ACUDEN 1 AND ACCIDENTAL DE %TH.— The companies representing these two objects propose to amalgamate them, and to apply to parliament fur the pur pose. THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1852. FRANCE. THE NEW CONSTITUTION. PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT. FROM OUR OWN CORIRSPONDINT. PARIS, THURSDAY, HALT•PAST NM,. The constitution is promulgated, preceded by a proclamation (given below). The President is to preserve his present title; he is responsible before the people, to whom he can always appeal. He commands the land and sea forces. He alone has the ini tiative of the laws. lie has a right to declare the state of siege, save the referring of it to tho Senate. Ile presents one message every year. No accusation can be brought against ministers but by the senate. They are only responsible for their respective duties. The functionaries take the oath of obedience to the constitution and fidelity to the President. In case of the death of the President the Senate calls upon the nation for a new election. The President has the right to designate to the people, by a secret deed, deposited with the Senate, the citizen whom ho recommends to the suffrage, until the electim of a new president. The President of the Senate governs jointly with ministers. The number of senators not to exceed one hun dred and fifty. It is fixed at eighty for the first year. The senators are named for life by the President. Their functions are performed gratuitously. How ever, tho President may grant a salary not ex ceeding thirty thousand francs. The sitting of the Senate not to be public. It re gulates the constitution of colonies, and all that has not been provided for by the constitution. It may propose modifications of tho constitution, but any modification of the bases laid on the proclamation of Dec. 2 will be referred to universal suffrage. There will bo a deputy to the legislative body for every thirty-five thousand electors, elected by universal suffrage for ten years, and receiving no emolument. All adopted amendments to be sent, without dis cussion, before the Council of State, and cannot be discussed if not equally adopted by this one. The sittings will last thtee months. Reports of the sittings by newspapers will bo con fined to the official reports of the proceedings drawn up by the bureau. The president and vice-president are nominated by the President of the Republic for a year. Ministers cannot be deputies. Petitions may bo addressed to the Senate, but none to the legislative body. The President of the Republic convokes, adjourns, prorogues, and dissolves the legislative body. In case of dissolution, a new one to bo convoked within six months. The Council of State, composed of 40 or 00 members, is nominated and presided over by the President, who may revoke its members. They receive an annual salary of twenty-five thousand francs. They draw up the project of laws and discuss them before the legislature. There will be a High Court of Justice, without ap peal, before which will be tried all attempts against the state or its chief. The mayors are appointel by the executive power. The following is the proclamation of the President of the Republic to the French people, explaining the constitution : PROCLAMATION OF Louis NAPOLEON, PRESIDENT OF TICS IiF.FCBLIC, TO Tim Faxmrot num, v, PaomuL. DATING TUN CONSTITUTION OF TIM 2ND OF Dzczx- eta, 18.51. Frenchmen!—ln my proclamation of the 2nd of Decom• bee, when 1 loyally explained to you what, according to my ideas, were the vital conditions of government (poweoir) is France, I had not the pretension, so common in these days, of substituting a personal theory for the experience of cen turies. On the contrary, I sought in the past the examples that might best be followed, what men had given them, and what benefits had resulted. I have thought it reasonable (*gigue) to prefer the pre cepts of genius to the specious doctrines of men of abstract ideas. I have taken as models the political institutions which already, at the commencement of the present cen tury, under analogous circumstances, have strengthened tottering society, and raised France to a lofty degree of pro sperity and grandeur. I have taken u models those institutions which, instead of vanishing at the first breath of popular agitation, were only overturned by the might of all Europe coalesced against us. _ _ _ In one word, I said to myself, since France makes pro gress during the last fifty year', in virtue alone of the ad ministrative, military, judicial, religious, and financial or ganisation of the Consulate and the Empire, why should not we else adopt the political institutions of that epoch ? Created by the same thought, they must bear the same character of nationality and practical utility. In effect, as I recalled to mind in my proclamation, it is essential to aver that our present state of society is nought else than France regenerate by the revolution of eighty nine, and organised by the Emperor. Nothing remains of the old rigiete but great souvenirs and great benefits; all that was organised under it was destroyed by the revolution, and all that since the revolution has been organised, and that still exists, has been the work of Napoleon. We no longer possess provinces, or states, or parliaments, or intendants, or farmers-general, or various customs, or feudal rights, or privileged classes holding exclusive posses sion of civil and military employments, or different religious jurisdictions. To all these thing', so incompatible with its spirit, the revolution applied a thorough reform; but it founded no thing definitive. The first consul alone re-established unity, hierarchy, and the true priniples of government. They are still in vigour. Thus, the administration of France, entrusted to prefects, sub.prefecta, and mayors, who enbatitnte unity in the plate of directing commissions (the decision of affairs, on the con trary, being confided to councils—from that of the commune to that of the department); thus, the magistracy, ren dered firm by the immovability of the judir., and by tha hierarcy of the tribunals—justico rendered more easy by the clear definition of attributions, from those of the Justice of the Peace, up to those of the Court of Cassation—all this is still standing. In the same manner, our ►dmirable financial system, the Bank of France, the establishment of the Budget, the Court of Accounts, the organisation of the police, and our military statutes, d►te from the above•mentioned epoch. For the last fifty yeen it is the Code Nopotion that has adjusted the reciprocal interests of citizens; it is still the concordat that regulates the relations of the state with the church. Lastly, the greater portion of the measures which concern the progress of industry, of commerce, of literature, of science, and of the arts, from the statutes of the Theatre Francais to those of the Institute of France, from the in stitution of " &noises" to the creation of the Legion of Honour, have been fixed by the decrees of that time. I It may, then, be affirmed that the frame of our 'facial edifice is the work of the Emperor, which has stood firm, resisting his fall and the shocks of three revolutions. Wherefore, since they have the same origin, should not his political institutions have the same chance of duration ? My own conviction has been formed for a long time; and, therefore, it was that I submitted to your judgment the principal bases of a Constitution burrowed from that of the year VIII. Approved of by you, they are to become the foundation of our political constitution. Let us now examine its spirit. In our country—for the last eight hundred years monar chical—the central power has always existed by increasing; —ltoyatty ihstroyed the great vassals;—the Revolutions themselves tansyd to disappear the obstacles which opposed the rapid and uniform exercise of authority. In this coun try of centralisation, public opinion has invariably referred everything, good and cril, to the chief of the government ; s o that, to write at the head of a charter that the chief is irresponsible, Is to lie (ewnti►) to public feeling. It is to endeavour Is establish a fiction which has three times dis appeared at the wand of revolution. The present constitution, on the contrary, proclaims that the chief wham you have elected is responsible to you. That ho has the right of appeal to your sovereign judgment, in order that in grave (agennelles) circumstances you may always be able to continuo your confidence in him or to , withdraw it. Being responsible,' his action, must be free and with out hindrance. Hence arms the obligation of his having ministers who may bo the honoured and pow erfu auxiliaries of his thought, but who no longer form a responsible council, composed of jointly responsible members (mensbres so:Waiter), • daily obstacle to the special influence of the cnief of the state; • Council, the expression of a policy emanating from the Chambers, and for that very reason, exposed to frequent changes which render impossible a continuous policy (*sprit sic suite) or the applicatiuu of • regular system. Nevertheless, in proportion to the loftiness of position in which a man is placed, and iii proportion to his independence and to the confidence that the people place in him, is his need of enlightened and conscientious council. Hence the creation of a council of State for the fu ture, the real (veritable) Council of the Govern nent, tho first wheelwork of our new organise tion—a reunion of practical men, elaborating projects of law in special committees, then discussing them with closed doors and without oratorical %Mutations in general assembly, next presenting them to the acceptation of the legislative body. Thus the Government (pouvoir) is free in its movements, end enlightened in its progress. Now, what will be the control exercised over the Assemblies ? A t'hamber, which bears the title of "The Legislative Body," votes the laws and the taxes. It l elected by universal suffrage without the ballot (um midi,' do lisle). The people, choosing each candidate singly, can the more easily appreciate his merit. The Chamber is composed of about two hundred and sixty members—a first guarantee of the calmness of its deliberations, for too often it has been seen, that in Assem blies the mobility and ardour of passions increase in pro portion to the number of members. The account of the deliberations which is to inform the nation of its affairs is no longer, u formerly, abandoned to the party spirit of each journal. An official,publication, drawn up under tho surveillance of the l'resident of the Chamber, will alone be authorised. The legislative body freely discusses the laws—adopts or rejects them—but does not introduce those unforeseen amendments which often derange the whole economy of a system, and the ensemble of the primitive project ; and, fur still stronger reasons, it does possess that parliamentary initiative which was the source of such grave abuse, and which permitted every deputy tosubstitute himself at every turn, in place of the Government, and to present projects, however unstudied or shallow. The Chamber being so longer in presence of the ministers, end prcjects of laws being advocated by the orators of the Council of State, the time will not be loot in vain interpella_ tions, in frivolous secunations, and in passionate struggles, whose sole object was to upset ministries in order to replace them. Thus, then, the deliberations of the legislative body will be independent, but the causes of sterile agitations will have been suppressed and salutary delays introduced into any modification of the law. The deputies (ssandataires) of the nation will maturely accomplish things of importance. I Another assembly bears the name of Senate. It will be composed of those elements which in every country create • legitimate influence; such as an illustrious name, wealth, talent, and services rendered to the country. The Senate is not—what the Chamber of Peers was—a pale reflection of the Chamber of Deputies, repeating, at a few days interval,:the same discussions in another tone. It is the depositary of the fundamental compact, and of the public I liberties, compatible with the Constitution, and it is solely with regard to the great principles on which our society is based, that it examines all laws, and that it proposes new ones to the Executive power. It intervenes either to resolve any grave difficulty which might arise during the absence of the legislative body, or to explain the text of the Constitu tion, and to secure whatever may be necessary to its opera tion (marine). It has the right to annul any illegal or ar bitrary act, and thus enjoying the consideration which at tubes to a body exclusively occupied with the examinatiou of great interests, or the application of great principles, it tills in the state the independent, salutary, •ad conservative office of the ancient parliaments. The Senate will not be, like the Chamber of Peers, trans formed into a Court of Justice. It will preserve its cha• meter of Supreme Moderator ; for disrepute always falls on political bodies, when the sanctuary of legislation becomes a criminal tribunal. The impartiality of the judge is too often questioned, and it loses all prestige with public opinion, which sometimes goes so far u to occur° it of being the instrument of passion or of hatred. . _ A High Court of Justice chosen from amongst the high magistracy, and having, as jury, members of the Councils. general of all France, will alone repress all attempts against the chief of the state and the public safety. The Emperor said to the Council of State—" A Constitu tion is the work of time. It is imposiiblo to leave in it too large a margin for ameliorations." Accordingly, the pre sent Constitution kas only settled that which it was impos sible to leave uncertain. It has shut up, within insurmountable barriers, the destinies of a great people. It has left for change a margin sufficiently large to allow in great crises, of other means of safety than the disastrous ex pedient of revolution. The Senate can, in concert with tho Government, modify all that is not fundamental in the Constitution, but as to any modifications of the fundamental bases sanctioned by your suffrages—they can only become definitive after having received your ratification. Thus, the people remains master of its destiny. Nothing fundamental is effected without its will. Such are the ideas, such the principles, that you have authorised me to apply. May this constitution give to our country calm and prosperous days —may it prevent the return of those intestine struggles in which vic tory, however legitimate, is always dearly bought ;—may tho sanction which you have given to my efforts be blessed by Heaven. Then—peace will be assured at home and abroad, my urgent hopes will be (Walled, my mission will be accomplished. LOVIII NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. Palace of the Tuileries, Jan 14, 1852. WIDNENDILT MORNINO. The Constittitiosset announces positively that the constitution will be promulgated to-morrow. M. Thouveual, formerly French minister at the court of Athens, is appointed Head of the Political Department in tho Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the place of M. Vieil Castel. Tho Pays says that M. Mathi!, ono of the ex representatives sentenced to transportation, made his escape as ho was being conducted from the fort where ho was confined towards the transport-ship. M. Martin and M. Nichot have been reprieved. The Prince do Carini, Ambassador or the King of Naples to the Court of England, has arrived in Paris with the Princess his wife. The Monitcur contains decrees appointing to the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of tho National Guard of the Seine five majors, four intendants, twelve surgeons, three colonels, four lieutenant colonels, twenty chefs d'escadron, forty captains, and four to form thojury of revision. The three colonels are Persigny, Bacciocchi (the President's Aide-dc- Camp), and do Nieuwerkerke. Tho Moniteur also contains the decree which has been previously announced for granting a full and eompleto amnesty for all condemnations pro nounced in consequence of infractions commit ' ted in the service of tho National Guard pre vious to the present date, either by the councils of discipline or by the tribunals of correctional police throughout the whole extent of the Republic. Two decrees follow authorising the departments of the Correza and Haute-Seine to assess themselves for the execution of public works. Dr. Veron writes an article in the Constitotionnel to tranquillise the agitation of the public at seeing the new power inaugurate its reign by a series of dreadful persecutions and reckless innovations destructive of all liberty. In the course of this article Dr. Veron says that Louis Napoleon at ono in the morning of flee. 2 wrote on the dossier con taining the proclamations and decrees " Rubicon." ' It seems probable that the members of the corps legion:I!! will not receive a salary. M. Firion, colonel commanding the state of siege in the Bassm-Alpes has just published nt Digne a decree announcing that within three days in the houses of all who have taken flight to evade the warrants out against them, soldiers will be billeted at their charge until the law be satisfied; within ten days the property of the fugitives will bo SCIUC3- trated. Any individual convicted of having furni.hcd aid in provisions, or money, or shelter to an insurgent, shall be considered as an accomplice of the insurrec tion, and treated accordingly. WEDNINDAT EVINIXO. I have heard to-day from a perfectly reliable source, a singular and highly important fact, but so strange as to startle belief. But this is a time when marvels are cheap; and if I had rejected all the re ports which have readied me on account of their ex traordinary nature, I should have omitted much that has aim* turned out quite true. On the morning of the coup efaut Monseigneur Sibour, Archbishop of Paris, and a stedfast supporter of the moderate re publican party, is said to have addressed a letter to M. I)upin, wherein ho o ff ered him the church of Notre -Name for the Assembly to meet in. Tho isolated position of this cathedral would have rendered it a highly valuable post if the national guard or any portion of the troops had de clared in favour of the Assembly. The archbishop also offered to meet the board of tho Assembly and the representatives as a sovereign power, at the head of his clergy in procession, at the principal door of the church. M. Lupin returned no answer what ever to these overtures which, had they been ac cepted, might have given quite a different turn to the events of the day. I regret to have to report the sequel; but of its truth there is unfortunately but too little reason to doubt. M. Dupin is said to have betrayed the letter of the Archbishop to Louis Na poleon, and thus made his peace with the power to which he had during the past year manifested eon @Womble opposition, and secured his maintenance in the post of l'roeurcur-General of the Court of Casea tion, which is in the gilt of the President. lint the dory of treachery does not end here. The letter is said to have been sent to Rome, with a request from the French government to the Pope to appoint a coadjutor to supersede the present archbishop is the administration of his diocese. This request motived upon the ground that Illonseigueur I liibour ' in writing such a letter to the President o f the As sembly, exceeded the fuctions of his spiritual power, and encroached upon the temporal authority of the state. What may be the answer of his Holi ness to this request is nut yet known. But it is said to be supported by all the influence of the Jesuits, who heartily detest the liberal doctrines and inde pendent character of the Archbishop of Paris. The diplomatic world is much absorbed at the present moment with several questions of high in terest, among which the relations with England and Belgium take the first rank. The ar maments and defences preparing on the other aide of the Channel ore a subject of grave attention with the government, as there is reason to believe that the latter acts of Louis Napo , bon, and particularly the menacing tone of General St. Arnaud's decrees, have not been well received by the northern courts. In fact, yesterday, at the funeral serlice of the Invalides in honour of the memory of Marshal Soult the absence of the three representa tives of the great European powers was remarked as a highly significant fact in the present juncture of affairs. The Grand Orient of France had named Prince I Lucien Murat Grand Master of the Masonic Order in France. The prince has accepted the office, with the permission of the President of the Republic. The last Grand Master of the Order was King Joseph, the Emperor's brother. M. Thouvenel has just been named chief of the political direction at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in place of M. de Vieleastel, who has retired. The Patric publishes a translation of the corres pondence between General Cavaignac and M. de Moray, which appeared in the Scotsman. In conse quence of this indiscretion the following note is com municated to the Moniteur by the Minister of the Interior: "The Minister of the Interior has seen with regret appear in the newspapers the translation from an English journal of a correspondence between himself and General Cavaignae. Ile has had nothing whatever to do with this publication, which can only have the result of ar indiscretion." l'ornin, ex-captain of the guards of Caussidiere, together with several other prisoners at the pre fecture of police, have been transferred to the fort of Hicetre. By order of the prefect of the Nord the dlrilc Linoise has been suppressed, for the same reason as the Opinion i'ublique, that is, for leaving in blank the parts cut out by the censorship. Everybody knows that this is done with impunity by the Aus trian papers. It appears that M. Vicyra, the head of the staff of the commander•in-chief of the Paris national guard, has called out a M. Laury, manufacturer of stoves, and captain of a company of the Ist legion, for having libelled him. The Constitutiwasel contains a decla ration of the seconds of M. Vieyra, which is curious, for the part attributed to M. deMorny. The Minister of the Interior, although far from partaking the opinion of lawyers on duelling, disapproved of the present challenge, as a superior officer cannot call out his inferior without compromising the dignity of his functions and failing in his duty towards the govern ment. M. de Morny therefore forbade Colonel de Vieyra to fight, and as for the other, if he persisted in his attacks, the prefect of police had orders to arrest him. Louis Napoleon was present last night at the Ita lian Opera. This is the first time the President has presented himself in public at any theatre, as when he visited the Grand Opera in state none were ad mitted without special invitations. Ho Caine in in the middle of the first act of Maria do Bohan, and took his scat without drawing forth any immediate de monstration from the audience. But at the end of the act there was a cry of Debouf, and the greater part of the spectators stood up, and some cried " Vivo Napoleon! flee le President !" which acclamations he acknowledged by bowing several times. The court-martial at Bordeaux has opened in due form. Its proceedings are accessible to the public. A plan was put in by the advocate on behalf of the accused against the competency of the court ; the ar gument was heard in the regular form, but the court decided that it was competent. It is supposed, from the circumstance of allowing incompetency to be pleaded, that an appeal to the G our t o f Cessation from the sentence of the court-martial will be al -1 lowed. Several journalists are to be banished, but the list will not, as I explained to you yesterday, be allowed to appear in the Munitcur. I hear that /llessrs. For cede and Solar, editors of the Messager, M. do Iteims, redacteur of the Ordre, and MM. Nettemcnt, de Circourt, and Sala, reducteurs of the Opinion Pub lique, have received their passports, with orders to quit Paris. On their passage through Havre the prisoners to bo transported to Cayenne were received with si lence and consternation by the people, who observed with astonishment and grief that political offenders were mixed up with convicts who hid broken their ban. Lamartine's " History of the Restoration " is not allowed to be advertised for sale, in consequence of its hostility to the memory of the Emperor. A notice posted in the saloon of the Theatre Fran vain warns the public not to talk polities as they walk up and down. General Cavaignac has applied to the Minister of War to bo permitted to retire from the army. On the Hoarse the Five per Cents. rose 1.10, clo sing at 105.20. The Three per Cents. rose 1, and closed at 70.25. Bank of France shares rose 40f. Railways again rose; Havre, 45L LATEST FOREIGN EXCHANGES. _ or . ___ _ For Aerount. PAII9, Jan. 14. 1 1. 1 I Money. Opening 1 Highest 1 UMW (loan& '— —' me Ceuta. ter Cent'. ker Cents.' ... ... do. New Liam ' 91 25 "' • ... ... ... ter Oran.. Itachanan on London : at plant, 25 321 ; 90 data. 25 171._ leien_ S. inau 1111, M....... . a 1.....- u—.__ 3 par Cants. 70 0 per Ceuta. 101 90 4 per Coat& 44 do. New Loma 9l 23 3 per Oral.. 11 34hInao 09 London : at , 0.1(1.0, 3, 1040 lO3 ldowy. Do. 3, 1042 — Do. 41 Do. 23 flotlasont 3n. Coat 93 RO • , 921 90 rlaya, 93 174.: " Naples Revues .. • • Nosey Human Loan, 111.11... 91 Do. do. DSO.- 924 Treasury Honda 11 usk an Area . 2;30 PARIS, J. ll.—St. (lerrnain, 520; Versailles (right bona), 3113; do. (left bank), 2311; Parts and Or an., LIDO( Nee. and wawa, ; il.n.en and Havre. 101; Mare/ die, and Avagnon, 230; elrao , boura 113111 Hale, 216 2i; lentle, ; 800. 11 91 0 e and Amino, 290; Orleana and laredeaux 491 40 ; Northern, 3,5; ['aria and NlTaannuni. 472 :a" , ; Tour. 611 Nantea, 307 50; Monterrao and Troyes, 15o; Dieppe and racking>, 227 30; Bordeaul and 7'40,90. NlAtuttn, JAN. 9.—Thrce per Cents., 374:: after Dolma, Four per Cents. ' 141. Five per Cents., 181; after Bolan, IS Coupons, SI ; after Bobo, B{. Passives, S 9-111; after 110180, 5 9-10 p. Bank of St. Ferdinand, 102 c. Exchange on London, 50.92 p. SPAIN. MILITARY MUTINY AND EXECUTIONS. MADRID, J. 9 On the evening of the ith, Madrid was not a little alarmed at finding the palace and all the military posts doubly guarded, and the body of the gurri , on confined to their barracks. It appears, as I men tioned to you in a former letter, that imprudent pro- mises of royal largesse had been made to the Qs diers—faryesse that, on account of the state of the public treasury, cannot for the present be granted. Added to this, it appears that some of the Akers of ono of the crack regiments have been punished for having struck several refractory, or more than usually dull, recruits at exercise. In en array like the Spa nish, in which discipline can only obtain through a mixture of tact and severity, is very little matter suffices to make the seeds of disorder germinate. When, theretiire, on the morning of the 7th, d ie Gazette informed the army that all the senior oflimrs, from senior lientenent to senior brigadier, were to be promoted, and the soldiers to have a year's service taken off, their disappointment broke out so much the more violent, that they had been expecting a dollar a man to indulge themselves with. In every regiment there was more or less excitement, fanned, it is said, by emissaries. In the San Franeisoi bar racks some soldiers stizel their arms, and, to the terror of the neighbourhood, some shots were ex changed, and a tremendous uproar took plamativaigst the military, some of whom shouted Vied 1(416 7 ,01km, and others broke their arms. Vigorous measures were taken, the mutineers seized, and were yester day tried by court-martial. Of the number condemned three were sentenced to be shut, and the order has been carried out to-day. It is said that much ex eitrment still prevails, and the troops are not yet permitted to stir out. A letter from Catalazud, in Aragon, mentions that there has been a serious riot there, in consequence of the harsh manner of levy ing the contribution, and that troops were hurrying to the place in order to restore order. The Go:Ptte of to-day is lull of decrees, as usual. One is for a credit of a million of rears for the arming of the carabiniers. Another letter from our correspondent, of the Same date as the foregoing, says:—Last night a portion of the garrison broke out in full revolt. The authori ties were in a state of the greatest alarm. The coun cil of ministers assembled, and protracted their sit tings until daylight this morning. The inhabitants, agitated by rumours, and eager to obtain news, ga thered in dense groups in the Puerta del Sul and other central places of the city. Some reported wildly that the Minister of War had been killed in barracks, which ho had visited fur the purpose of suppressing a mutinous outbreak of the troops. Others said that the regiments of litiza,Chielana,and the Rehm Goliernadora, had risen in mutiny in their quarters. The truth is that the most dangerous insubordination prevailed in these regiments. The ministry had been greatly alarmed because the troops cried Viva la Republica!" and a great number of soldiers of different corps had held a disorderly meeting in the I'laza Mayor, and grossly insulted several °Hirers. The governm en t, i n default of other resources, agreed to close tho Cortes; and to-day the Gazette publishes a decree to this effect, without making any allusion to the period when the legislature is to re-assemble. The force of carabineers and armed police were assembled in the hotel of the ministry of finance, where they were regaled with abundance of wine to rouse their mettle and secure their loyalty. Notwithstanding these precautions, the night passed off without any conflict. This morning a considerable assemblage of soldiers, without any other nnns but bayonets, repaired to the Plaza Mazer, which you may remember was the scene of the celebrated pro nunrianiiento of the regiment Espagna, on the 7th of May, IS Is. Isere they began to raise revolutionary cries. The regiment of Itaza marched immediately to the spot ; surrounded the mutineers, and took them prisoners. The people, fearing further riots, shut up their shops, and considerable aterunpententis took place in the principal streets. The thasseurs of the regi ment of Chiclana sallied out of their quarters this morning and marched to the barracks of San Fran cisco, where three soldiers of the same regiment were placed en to prepare for execu tion. The soldiers on guard at the entrance of the barracks, and the sentinels allow e d the ehasseurs of Cidelana to pass. But the officers of the regiment of Grenadiers which is quartered there, mustering about sixty, were prepared to give the visitors a rude reception, and charged them sabre in hand. While the latter attempted to defend themselves with their bayonets, the privates of the Grenadiers came to the assistance of their officers, and threatened to pour a discharge of musketry on the invaders unless they retired. Upon this the mutinous companies of Chiclana made their retreat. In several parts of the town the soldiers who remained true to their colours, were attacked by the mob and beaten with sticks ; and only saved themselves from severer treatment by precipitate flight. At three this after noon the thine soldiers of the regiment of Chiclana were shot. Their execution was conducted with the greatest secrecy, and they were coveyed in a coach to the spot where they met their fate, which is con trary to the regulations of the army. The acts of insubordination recounted in the fore going letters bad rendered it necessary for the Mi nister of the Interior to address the following to the governor of the province of Madrid: Baying remarked that certain journals have asserted that the ministry intended to propose to the Queen to re duce the duration of the military service, and that this intimation, divulged in that manner by other channels, has induced a hope that it would be realised, the govern ment of her Majesty declares that it never contemplated such a measure. Never has a reduction in the duration of tho service taken place in circumstances similar to the present one, and it would, moreover, be contrary to the existing legislation and to the respect due to the rights of the generality of the men liable to be called upon, since fresh recruits would be more frequently levied. The queen who has ordered the Minister of War to adopt whatever measure ho thinks proper on the occasion, has instructed me to recommend you not to permit the circulation of journals, or printed papers, in which the que s tion s ho u ld be treated in a contrary manner to the views of the govern ment. You will accordingly seize all publications violating that prescription. ply order of the Queen I give you this notice that you may lose no time in communicating it to the directors of the journals, it being her Majesty's desire that the prohibition be carried this day into execution. God preserve you many years. (Signed) The Minister of the Interior, iiEletit.lN us Lis. Madrid, January 8, 1851. 1 To the Governor of the Province of Madrid. The present royal order is to be forwarded to all the pro vincial governors. ITALY. PIEDMONT. The Sardinian Chamber of beputies concluded the debate on the treaty of commerce with Aug ' trio on the loth. M. do Revel, formerly of the cabinet, was the principal orator, and spoke with great weight of argument in favour of the treaty, which was adopted by 90 votes against ;;S. GERMANY. A telegraphic despatch, dated Berlin, Jan. 13, says: " A royal decree has just appeared, ret.toriug the Council of State. The Minister Vun Manteutia is nominated President ad interim." It was stated in Vienna that an immediate levy of 80,000 men is to take place in the course of a month. The gendarmerie were also to be reinforced. The treaty of commerce between Austria and Turkey had reached Vienna, ratified by the Porte. The Suabiwa .merry states that the Wiirtemberg Railway loan has been taken at par by the houses of M. A. Rothschild and Sons, and the Brothers Ilene , diet. The statement that Austrian troops, to the number of 4,000 men, were about to settle perma nently in Hamburg, and that barracks were about to 'be built for their accommodation, has been warmly contradicted by the Prussian government papers. The .loburg Allyr»irine Zeiler's!, was seized last week at Munich, a misfortune such as had not befallen that celebrated journal within the last twenty-five years. Experiments on the rapidity attainable for ex press railway trains are being made. From the Ist April the journey from Berlin to Cologne will bo made in thirteen hours, or at the rate of fitty-tive English miles in the hour. The German railroads are doing very good business, and paying buproving dividends. In tb for ward tire eoi p eo t, I v ] a titutiot prop spe. ol ll Titles of a 'I Cr was rei being rn cultist at 'There the Ira, vender , b e r evol power c l i e in in eaee ntil has ba ( ra pers where c actual 1 of (lie their ; e ditors these the see( dead sc parliam has talc , b e pro reason, is disal busines legal 01 l e gality goventz on wot (*gni"' the dm p ro balit gorical cut the of the d the cha vessel. parliam actions very 0, imagine even in, acted a never ing h htorY can exe long as they ha falloff: classes, tile for people's contemt no Wul with tin Neverth so circa as tame there e changes] have b chambei more co original marked plainest proceed not ol d in other What is of expla morrow were to would c are of al A let bate on than us crowdei The ma on the I vertimei and bo veyance threatei Three ceeding only in first, m was eer gaverni can"- o by met follows illegal ; tunona' this or tion of that th the due Dec. 1 was ad. The sec mined justifies the dis Second that tin forced. proved ministr rather authori appeal illegal would fore, th ed. perger, rdieut before cision. minks The legation deratioi at the s his Mai " Th. does no differen Ternmei right to the cat( price joi naY ld i shou Pe I allow tt Bites no such per Gee wanting Changx tion of " The explain of actim " The mission eounies. of the / axount stitute 'No the righ entious duty of motions coed the " Th E ben will therefor own, w i day." M. a PPrOtt 13 0 lon •mpaj Wan Ic e o Mnln cectfed Atantet the do impreB ; N. I(