The Express.
London, England, 1852-02-03 00:00:00

of being kept free ; and artvt ..,
have thu tendency. If we • t t
Is
capable of being kept Gee, Ilp •
beads about the matter. . '` if,...
EutertaMing th v the
voting, we of r
measure of which it does DerT •
___

sere elan. We believe that a reforni

not provide fur the votes of electors
secretly will not be an honest one. We believe .
the people will care very little for each a bill ; we know
that they ought not to care for it. We have, on
former occasions, shown that any machinery. for
taking the votes at elections, however ingenious,
cannot in limited constituencies of itself suffice to
ensure absolute secrecy. The voter must be enabled
to be one of many. All small constituencies will
have to be abolished or augmented. And the new
large constituencies must each have a unity in itself
aggregates of small constituencies will scarcely serve
the purpaeo.
There is one other quality that must be present, if
the new Reform Bill is to be honest—an improved
registry. The want of any official machinery fat
placing qualified voters on the roll, the legal doubts
that can be raised as to the validity of qualifications
by rendering registry difficult and expensive, keep
many good votes off the roll and admit many bad
ones. This is, perhaps, the best argument in favour
of a ratepaying qualification. If every person entered
on the rate-book is entitled to vote, the rate-book
will be a self-adjusting register, costing nothing. It
must be made out in any case; no additional ex-
pense is incurred by using it as an election
roll. The tax-gatherers will take care that no
man's name is omitted that ought to be there;
the tax-payers, that no man's name is kept there that
ought to be omitted. The rate-hook is not liable to
suspicions of having been tampered with by officials.
The rate-book can be kept accurate without the aid of
volunteer associations and paid agents for registering
voters. These associations and agents are necessarily
of a partisan character ; their aim is to increase the
number of one party's votes., and diminish the num-
ber of their opponents. They are a network spread
over the whole country, ready at hand for the use of
those agents in the metropolis who undertake to
provide seats or do the electioneering work of gentle-
men desirous to enter parliament tied to a party..

FRANCE

THE NEW ELECTORAL LAW.

(BY SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH.)
(7110 X ors OWN COMMIPONDIINT.)

PARIS, TUMMY MORNING.
The Electoral Law is promulgated. The suffrage
is direct and universal. Scrutiny secret.
Algeria and colonies not to have deputies.
The electors to meet at the principal place of their

Are electors without condition of census, all
Frenchmen of 21 years old, in possession of civil sod
political rights.
The electoral list of the commune includes all
electors having resided in it for six months.
People sentenced to more than one month of con-
finement for rebellion not to be registered for five
years.
Are elcgiblo without condition of domicile all
electors twenty-five years old.
All salaried public functionaries are incompatible
with the mandite of deputy.
The interval between the convocation and opening
of the Electoral Colleges is to be 20 days at least.
Colleges are convoked for 29th February.
A deem authorises religious corporations of the
Armlet sex.

NEW PREFECTS.
PARIS, DIONDaIr EVENI,IO.
Woad Laborde, ex-representative, is appointed
Governor of the Luxembourg Palace.
The ifoniteur contains the following changes in
the Prefectures:

Prefect of the Haute-Garonne, M. Bret, Prefect of the
Loire, fa the place of M. Pietri, Prefect of Police ; Prefect
of the Loin, M. Poison, '•n-General of the Pre-
.

roused, Socistary-Generai o._
Asters of the Niters ; Prefect of the Seineut Oise, M. de
Ik Ma welt, Prefect of the Moselle, in the place of M.
Arrighi de Padone, appointed Maitu-des-Requetes of the
bet elms in the Council'of State ; Prefect of the Moselle, M.
Mallet, bum Prefect ; Prefect of the Haute-Marne, M. de
Pievidetud. hewer sob-Prefect of Carpentiss, in the plea
of M. Pwi apriated Prefect of the Manche;
11Posillst at dis errs M. I. cart, Sob-prefect of Rennes, in
Ise Om dig. Ward, ; Prefect of the Basses-Alpes, M.
&mg as Beinville, in the place of M. Dunoyer ; Prefect of
ttM Ardelche, M de Saulzaro, Sob-prefect of Fontaine-
You the piece of M. Chinese, appointed Secretary
gunk of the Ministry of the Interior.
no slily matter of importance in tho Muniteur of
ffwer Is this nomination of new prefects. First
•the list stands the name of M. Bret. This
oimammen is a relative of M. do I'ersigny. The
department of the Haute-Garonne, to which he is
appointed, is a highly important and difficult poet,
sequtring activity and intellirnoc, neither of which
is possessed by M. Bret, who is of advanced age and
mall capacity. M. Ponsard, the new prefect of the
Loire, has spirit and capacity, but the department to
which he is appointed w too important for a /Mbar.
M. de St. Marsault, the new prefect of the Seine-et-
Oise, is not a bad appointment, as a person of agree.
able manners and a man of the world is required of
Versailles rather than a vigorous administrator—:
M. Molher, the prefect of the Moselle, was formerly
prefect of the Vauclu.se. His son was killed
on the side of order in the days of June.
Struck by this domestic misfortune, M. Mather re-
signed an OEM for which he was unnerved by grief.
Thu appointment is also reckoned good. The neat
department, Haute-Marne, seems by the traditions of
the home-nice to be a place of relegation for bad
prefects. M. Fart, the new prefect of the Geri,
was sub-prefect of Itainces, and is not wanting in
either capacity or courage, and has some fortune. M.
de Bouville, the prefect of the Buses-Alpes, was the
founder of the Pays, and replaces, for reasons un-
known M. Dinoyer, a more capable man than him-
self, who is shelved altogether. M. de &mirrors
owes his advancement to bo prefect of the Ardeehe
to the adulation of power by his father-ia-law. Iha
only features worth noticing in the appointments of
the rub-prefects are the nomination of a former ca-
valry or to a post belonging essentialll to civi-
lian*, which is a piece of notable Bonapartism, and
the appointment of M. Juteau, brother of a lady who
was assiduous in attending the receptions of the
Elysee.
The Conseil d'Etat has already entered upon its
functions. The section of Public Works hejd a
sitting to-day, for the first time, to constitute itself.
The lists for the recruitment of the army, and the
formation of the contingent of the clamor 1851, will
be posted up on the 15th and 22nd of February.
The drawings by lot will commence on the Bth of
March.

3d. )upin, ex-Procureur of the Court of Caseation
and ex-President of the National Assembly, has just
inscribed his name on the list of advocates at the
Court of Appeal.
The ex-Queen Amelie has written a letter to M.
Dupin' counselling calmness to the adherents of the
Orleans family in France.
M. Leroux has been set at liberty, and has left for
Brussels. _ _

The following persons are made chevaliers of the
Legion o! Honour :—M. l'astoureau, prefect of the
Var; M. de Sainte Croix, prefect of the lkux-Serres;
M. Dr. Hes, ex-national guard of the second legion,
serertAy wounded in the combat of June, ISIS ; and
M. %cram, member of the municipal council of
Although the Opristitutiotmei declares that func-
tionaries are not to be permitted to sit in the Corps
I.egialatif, it would appear that this prohibition is
not absolute. Fur the rest, M. do Niewerkerke, Di-
rector of Museums, has written an address to the
electors of the Aisne, offering himself as a candidate.
The legitimists will only put in their second-rate
i men, just to serve as a means of knowing what goes
on in the eoulisses. MM. do Kermaree and de
Kerdrel are mentioned as coming forward, the latter
fur the lle.ct-Vilaine.

Se-eral bishops, among whom I may mention the
Archbishop of Paris and the Bishops of Orleans and
Hennes, have renounced, on the part of the poor
clergy, all share assigned by the decree of the 22nd
ult in the spoil of the House of Orleans.
Yesterday I mentioned a decree in the Monitew,
restoring the form given by the Emperor to the
decoration of the Legion of Honour. You are aware
that, under the restoration and the government of
July, the Au of Henry IV. was substituted for that

- - -
.4 lite - republic, which .
acknowledgment by having served as a pedestal to
elevation of Louis Napoleon.
You will have seen in the Belgian papers a fact of
the highest importance, as proving distinctly that
...ted W independence and neutrality of Belgian is sub-
stantially annulled. The Boolktis Francais, a
weekly paper, conducted with groat talent, by
Alexandre Thomas, and some other French refugees
of the Orleanist party, has been seised, and prate-
in compliance with the demands of the French
government. It grows daily more evident that •
quarrel is imminent between France and Belgium,
which must end in the absorption of the latter coun-
try, unless her cause be backed by a coalition power-
ful enough to scare the wolf from his intended prey.
I have just heard from the best authority a strik-
ing instance of the extent to which prints ettgeth 'I
even in the most distinguished circles, beseatessea-
kered by the system of espionage. Tall OM SWIM
that the salon of Madame de Pommereux, daughter,
of the Marquis d'Aligre, is one of the most
brilliant in Paris. This lady issued a few
days ago invitations for a ball. On the next
morning a person called at her hotel and demanded
to speak with the lady of the house. He was ad-
mitted, and announced that he came on the part of
M. de Manpas, to request the favour of some invita-
tions to her soiree. Madame de Pommereux, who
has no want of esprit, replied with temper that she
was not personally acquainted with M. de Manpas,
and therefore could not invite him. " Yea mistake,
Madame," said the policeman, "it is not for himself
that the minister of police demands this favour, but 'I
for two of our administration." Madame de Pomme-
mu: could not think of subjecting her guests to the
contact of the police. The ascot then demanded to
see the list of persons invited. This, after some
hesitation, was shown to him. Ho then said, after
running his eye over it, " I see. Madame,
that I may spare.you any further trouble by insist-
ing upon this point, since I see already in this list
the names of three of our colleagues." With a grim
smile he returned the list, and bowed his adieu to
the lady, who, not a little scandalised to hear that
three of the frequenters of her society. had tamed
agents of the police, loot no time in giving notice to
her friends that she should cease to receive.

The prefect of the Haute Vienne, in obedience to
the recent circular of M. de Persigny, has set at
liberty 43 prisoners, in the arrondissement of Li-
moges. Forty-two more, who were on board the
Dugueselin' at Brest, have also been liberated. A
letter from Clamecy says that great number, have
been discharged from the prison there, and that their
liberation produced a very good effect; but, unfor-
tunately, the vacant cells are all filling again, for the
military have discovered several secret societies in
the neighbourhood, and are making arrests in all
directions. The court-martial at Clamecy has just
condemned five insurgents who have absconded to
transportation by default. The court has also tried
and sentenced to transportation two men named se.
healer and Guellemot, who are charged with having
killed M. Mulon, the barrister, during the insur-
rection.
M. Theodore Bac, who was in the list of the
banished, is still at Peri:, having obtained at his own
request an indefinite reprieve. MM. Marc Dufraime
and Grew) are the only political prisoners of their'
category remaining in St. Pelagic.
" M. Proudhon," says the t nion, "is to be dis-
charged from the prison of St. Pelagie in • few
days, as his condonation to three years' imprison-
ment, pronounced at the commencement of 1849, is
on the point of expiring. The author of 'La Pro-
priet c'eet le Vol,' underwent the first part of his
punishment at the Conciergerie. On various occa-
sions he obtained permission to leave the prison for
brief periods, particularly when about to be mar-
ried. Lately, also, he was allowed to go out to visit
his wife when ill."

M. Pereira, M. Michot, and another political pri-
soner, arrived last evening from Orleans, under an
escort of gendarmes. M. Pereira is about to par
ceed to take up his residence at Barcelona. All his
family will accompany him in his exile.
Three hundred of the political prisoners have been
removed from Fort Lamalgue at Toulon, and placed
on board the Genereux hulk. The strictest orders
have been given not to allow any one to go on board
but those on duty.
General Lawasstine and Colonel Vieyra are pro-
ceeding actively with the reorganisation of the
National Guard of Paris. Although there will be no
more legions, five bands of music will be formed, so
that there may be one for every four or five batta-
lions. The mounted national guards will have a
separate band of music. It is said that the officers
of the infantry will retain their present tunic, with
the addition of facings, and will also have a separate
full-dress uniform, with dress sword and cocked-hat.
It is added that the uniform of the mounted guards
will be considerably changed, and that that of the
officers will be much more rich than hitherto.
At the Bourse the Five per Cents. fell 40c.,
closing at 102.30 ; the Three per Cents. fell 65, and
closed at 64.10. Bank of France shares fell 10fr.
Lyons railway rose Str.; a few of the other lines fell
a little, but the greater part closed without variation.

SWITZERLAND.
TED OCCUPATION BY FRENCH

IRUAR'

.ANY.
ridA.

GE ItM.
PRUf
papers art complaisasta most
ruinous taxation um oil the pprteessss
stamp law. All political psriodisala,
either at regular or irregular intervals,
lithographed or printed, are to pay a
half a pfenning for every 100 square
_ superficial contents ; advertising sheets,
though containing no news, are not excepted.
The New Prussian Gazette declare' the tax exor-
bitant, u it will absorb nearly three fifths of its groin
revenue, an amount of taxation imposed on no other
enterprise in which largo capital is embarked; ono
of the provisions of the law affecting foreign news-
papers imported into Prunia, imposing a tax of 24
per cent. upon the subscription price of the news-
paper, exclusive of the postage, at the place of pub-
lication, or, at the lout, two thalers a-year for each
paper.

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY
re.ll4kio. I
that N
.nstlt
"him alvkatrtitast 7 )rom
ld not ufrorrii: reantour el the. NW Come to ror is
Al! the Been
t enoigh. ti ,thie emula-
te , secret me colours pl the be repleud by the against ohe nu,
an whit& • • by the new star
a oar* will a•• understand that it is the intention of the govern- published tithe
Orm hill that does merit to pay a compliment to the revolution of 1848, whether lithogr
etors being given by ordering February 24 to be observed u the na- tax of half
We believe, that tional fete of the republic, which comes in for this inches of anart