The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-01 00:00:00

FRANCE.

(101103 C TEN

OP TER DAILY *sal
PARIS, SATURDAY Evonto.
The doubts which I mentioned yesterday as haviae,
been entertained respecting the fact of the r
ep
einearnple conference at Vienna are confirmed to.dir
by the Cologne Calais, which says that on the VA
4bo ambassadors of the three Powers, Count de Beal,
Baron de Bourqueney, and Lord Westmoreland, Mg
in conference, and that afterwards Count Buol ha
as interview with Prince Gortabakoff, to wheel he
onuninicated the precise sense of the coediting"
demanded by the Western Powers and Auntie,
Insisting upon a simple answer of yes or no. Tbie
inenariam is conformable to what I yesterday indicated
es tie probable course of things, and reduces tie
Import of the conference, about which so much*
has been made, to an empty formality, for no one
expects that the Russian ambassador will have girls
a straightforward or satisfactory answer.
The Bulletin des Lois promulgates a decree, dated
Nov. 7, authorising the Minister of Finance to sag.
meat the emission of treasury bonds for 1854-1833 to
350 millions; and also a decree, dated Nov. 12, opt&
ing a supplemental credit of 7,466,000 f., of whim
6,897,900 f. are appropriated to the consolidated debt
and the remainder to the poet office. A further sop,
plemental credit of 4,000,000 f is opened for civil and
military pensions, the expenses of the Senate, and
the receipt and farming of taxes.

A new denomination of gold coinage has been de•
creed—pieces of bof. and 100 E No more 40f. gew
pieces are to be coined, but those now in circulation
are not withdrawn.
At the Bourse the settlement in the rente (4.
vaned a day in consequence of the 31et being
Sunday) turned out untavourably for the speculators
for the rise. The Three per Cents. fell 30, closing at
66.70. Almost all the railways rose two or three
franc, but Orleans fell 10f. Bank of Francs
rose 15f.

I learn by a private letter from the Crimea that in
the night of Dec. 10, while the artillery of the
fortress was blazing away vigorously but doincline;
harm, the Russians made two serious sorties.
were repulsed on all points except at a mortar battery
guarded by a battalion of the French 42nd Rev.
menu which was unfortunately fast asleep. Th.
Russians wounded a few men, took a lieutenant pri.
soner, and carried away with them three little mortar'
—email enough to be carried in the arms of two men.
As soon as this affair was reported to Gen. Csairobert
he withdrew the battalion from the trenches as en.
worthy to be employed upon such a service, and
ordered the captain who commanded the force to be
tried by a court-martial.

The same letter states that another sortie (date not
given) was repulsed by the English in a masterly
style at the. point of the bayonet, with a Russian low
of 400 killed, wounded, and taken prisoners.
The following article in the Ifimiteur is believed
to be intended as a satisfaction to the Turkish em.
balmy for the omission of all mention of Turkey in the
Imperial speech.
The Porte continues to use the most praiseworthy efforts
not only to merit the universal interest which its cause has
awakened, but also to co-operate in the merino's of the allied
powers. This is what results from all the information re.
ceived by the government of the Emperor, from the French
embassy at Constantinople, and from the General-in-Chid
of the army of the East. It is already known that the
Sultan, not wishing to confine himself to sending to the
Crimea the reinforcements which were kept in re.
serve at Varna for the wants of the expedition hal
given orders to Marshal Omer Pacha to place himself
at the head of a corps d'ormt's formed of picked
troops, intended to take an important part in our opera-
tions. The central military administration, which, since
the commencement of hostilities, has shown the
greatest anxiety to assist us, has lately given a fresh im-
pulse to the works which we had requested them to under-
take. Numerous workmen are at this moment occupied is
making tents for our men and coverings for our horses, and
the arsenals are employed in founding cannon and project
tiles, which will be placed at the disposal of General Canro-
bert. The Ottoman Admiralty, on its side, gives to the
allied squadrons an active co-operation for the repairs of the
damage experienced by our ships during the hurricane dike
14th November. Lastly, our hospital establishments requir-
ing an increased development at Constantinople in propor-
tion to the number of our army, the Sultan has ordered the
Sneakier to offer us for that purpose all the buildings that
we may require. It is with devoted eagerness that the
Porte has on all occasions made the sacrifices called for by
the common interest, and the government of the Emperor
feels the most sincere satisfaction in making it known.
It is important to observe the allusion to Omer
Pacha, wbtch is an implied contradiction of the report
of his dismissal by the Ottoman government.
The Constitutionnel says :

According to accounts which have just reached Paris
from Constantinople, the state of health of Prince Napo-
leon had not yet allowed him to leave for the Crimea,
whither he had already sent the officers of his household in
the hope that he should soon be able to follow them. It
was even feared that his Imperial Highness would be
obliged to postpone his departure from Constantinople for
some time as he has a violent attack of the gout, from
which be is suffering severely. The other symptoms of
his complaint have completely disappeared. All bis illaees
is now therefore (*shoed to the gout, which give, no canes
for uneasiness, but confines the Prince to his bed, and the
greet annoyance which he feels at being thus kept away
from the army tends to increase the disease.

The Press. Constantinople correspondence of the
18th says the Duke of Cambridge and Lord Cardi-
gan were both about to return to England. With
regard to the Duke of Cambridge I have seen several
letters, by this mail, stating that he was coming
home. One letter says he had been "ordered to
England," and another that he had actually em-
barked on board the Retribution, but had afterwards
landed, that vessel being detained for repairs. Your
own Constantinople correspondent, however, 'who is
very seldom misinformed, says, writing on the same
date, that his Royal Highness, after receiving the
visit of the Sultan at the embassy (a fact noticed, by
the way, in the letters to which I refer) would return
to his command before Sebastopol.
A letter from Berlin says that the French govern-
ment has bought up most of the wine on sale in the
Moselle districts, for the use of the army.
The Moniteur contains a notification that as the
Emperor and Empress wish to exercise a free choice
in purchasing articles at the Universal Exhibition,
thethey cannot accept any which may be offered to
m.

There will be a reception for ladies only at the
Tuileries, at 9 o'clock on Tuesday evening. They
must appear in Court dresses.
Mr. Edward B. Buchanan has been accredited to
the Imperial Commission of the Exhibition as Com-
missioner from the United States for the state of
Maryland. The Commissioners of toe United States
now present in Paris have held a meeting to form a
central committee, of which Mr. James Swaim has
been chosen President.
A firs broke out yesterday morning at an early
hour in a young ladies' boarding-school, kept by
Mdlle. Lefeuvre, No. 8, Rue Sery, at Havre. An
alarm being immediately given, all the pupils of
the house were got out, and the firemen soon
arriving, succeeded in extinguishing the flames on
the first floor, where the fire commenced. No sooner,
however, had they done so, than the conflagration
broke out with greater fury on the third story.
Tke firemen, who were aided by detachments of
gendarmes and soldiers, made every effort in their
power to check the progress of the flames, but it was
five hours before they succeeded, and then the house
and its contents were almost entirely consumed.
Next the boarding school was an immense wood
yard full of wood, but the precautions taken fortu-
nately prevented the flames from reaching it. A
sergeant of the firemen, named ()rancher, whose zeal
was extraordinarily great, was crushed to death by
the fall of the ruins of the house ; and his body,
when found some time after, was completely who-
nisecL The pupils of the school, many of whom had
to hurry off only partially dressed, were kindly re-
ceived in the house of Madame d'Hondelot, and that
lady supplied them all with food and clothes. The
damage done by the fire is calculated at 80,000 f. The
unfortunate Grander leaves a wife and young
family. Upwards of 3,000 L have already been sub•
scribed for them.

Tim STUN= Quart, Captain Wilk, arrived at
Southampton yottordity from Oporto, Which port obi loft et
the 21st alt. Her sago consists of 230 live bulbar,
rr
7,000 k
234tD3ty Oi etas, ogg, emit, sad moots to Of Tau It