The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-13 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13, 1852.

FRANCE.

Prince Aldobrandini, cousin of Louis Napoleon, is
arrived in Paris from Italy, and proposes to spend
some time in the capital.
The Unirers states that a serious indisposition will
prevent M. de Montalembert from making his ex-
pected discourse on his admission to the Academy on
the lath. Hence ho requests that the ceremony
may be adjourned.
Several copies of the bust of Louis Napoleon, by
Madame Lefevre Ileumier, have been ordered by the
Minister of the Interior to be executed in marble and
placed in the halls of the different mayorics.
The President has ordered a funeral service to be
celebrated in honour of the memory of Marshal Soult,
twesorrow morning, at 11, in the church of the
lavalides.

ream, MONDAY MORNING.
The Moniteur of this morning contains a decree
for the dissolution of tho National Guard throughout
France, and the reorganisation of this institution
upon an opposite principle, so as to make it an
instrument in the hands of the executive power
instead of the municipalities.

The considerations upon which this important
decree is based aro tho following. Order, it is
alleged, is the only source of work, and is established
only in the direct ratio of the strength and authority
of the government. The National Guard ought
not to be a guarantee against the execu-
tive power, but a guarantee against disor-
der and insurrection. The principles applied
to the organisation of the National Guard at
the sequel ol different revolutions in Franco, by indis-
criminately arming everybody, were only a prepara-
tion for civil war. Tho composition of the national
guard effected with discernment secures public order
and the welfare of the country. In the rural dis-
tricts especially, where the public force is inconsider-
able in number, it is important to provide against
every now attempt of disorder and pillage. Recent
experience has proved that a single company of good
citizens armed for the defence of their homes suffices
to keep in check or to put to flight whole bands of
malefactors. The most important provisions of the
decree are as follows:

announces, without comment,
several inmarea taken by the English government
for placing the coast in a state of defence.
The wooden houses building at Bordeaux by
Messrs. BourgOs and Verges, for Cayenne, are to be
one hundred in number, each capable of containing
accent), of the transport.l prisoners.
The Liberec', of Lille, says:

Notwithstanding the formal refusal of the French autho-
rities to receive Belgian deserters into the French army,
such persons continue to cross the frontier and offer their
services. A few days back a Belgian, named Lefebvre,
belonging to the 10th Belgian regiment of the line, pre-
sented himself to the authorities at Lille, declaring as Bel-
gium was soon to belong to France, he only anticipated a
little in now entering the French army. lie was quite sur-
prised ut his services being refused, and at a peremptory
order being given him at once to quit the French territory.
The Minister of War has just appointed a com-
mission, with Generals de La Rue anti Cornemuse at
its head, to sec to the proper employment of the
voluntary gifts sent in from various quarters, and in
aid of the families of the soldiers and gendarmes
lately killed and wounded in the defence of society.
The Minister of War has put his name down
for 5000 f.

Tho National Guards ofthe Seine will be ►e-organised by
battalions under the orders of the Commander-in-chief.

The service is obligatory for all Frenchmen between the
ages of 25 and 50 who shall he deemed apt by the (mini!' do
recensement. The government *will nevertheless fix the
number of National Guards for each locality. The Na-
tional Guard is re-organised in all communes where the
government deem necessary ; it is dissolved and re-organised
as circumstances require. The President appoints the
officers of all ranks on the presentation of the Minister of
the Interior, according to the proposals of the commander-
in-chief in the department of the Seine, and according to
the proposals of the prefects in the other departments.
The adjutant non-commissioned officers arc appointed by
. . .

M. Malay (de la Meurtlic) has ceased his func-
tions of Vice-President of the Republic; he recehed
his salary up to the end of last month, but it was for
the last time.

the chef de bestail:on who appoints also to all posts of
non-commissioned officers and corporals, on the presentation
of commanders of companies. The National Guard is placed
under the authority of the mayor, sub-prefects, prefects,
and Minister of the Interior. Tho citizens cannot take
arms, or meet as National Guards, without the order of
their officers, aor can the order bo given by these without a
requisition of the civil authority. No commander of a post
can distribute cartridges to the National Guards placed
under his command except by virtue of a precise order or in
case of an attack. The cowed de reeeneeonent is composed
as follows :-1. For • company : of the captain, as presi-
dent, and of two members appointed by the sub-prefect.
2. For a battalion : of the chef de beataillon, as presi-
dent, and of the captains of each of the companies.
Provisionally and until the appointment of officers, it is
composed of three members for each company, and of nine
members for each battalion, appointed by the prefect or
sub-prefect. At Paris the appointment shall be made by
the Minister of the Interior, on the presentation of the ge-
n •ral commanding. The con cif de recensement decides on
admissions.

At the Bourse, the Fives fell 155, closing at
103.25; the 'Dimes fell 2.23, and closed at G 8.50.
'fhe dissolution of the national guard ()reduced an
uneasy feeling. A heavy full took place in railways.
Orleans fell Gofr. ; Rouen, 47fr. 50e.; Tours and
Nantes, 32fr. 50e. ; Northern, 20fr. ; Central, 17fr.50c.;
Strasbourg, 16fr. 25e.; Versailles (left bank), lafr.;
Havre, 12fr. 50e.; Marseilles, 10fr.; Dieppe, Bfr. 73c.
Bank of France Shares fell 110.

To sum up briefly the changes made by this
decrees in the National Guard, hitherto all F rcnch-
men, with certain exceptions fixed by the law, were
National Guards, chose their own officers, and were
at the disposal of the municipal authorities of
the commune. Now the officers arc appointed by
the President and the prefects, and none arc admitted
to servo except those chosen by the central authori-
ties. In the meanwhile this force, which is placed
entirely under the control of the executive, lies at the
charge of the municipalities.
The national guard has thus received its death
blow. No doubt this institution has declined much
in popularity since the revolution of February and
the days of June ; and if it had been totally sup-
pressed at Paris I believe that few would have
murmured, for the shop-people would have been
generally only too glad to get rid of the irksome
duties of drill and exercise imposed on them. But
the mode of reorganisation adopted by the decree of
to-day gives universal offence. It completely per-
verts the institution by making the national guards
and their officers nonunees of the government. Thus
citizens of a liberal and independent turn of mind
will have to obey those as their superiors who are
selected for their subservience to the authorities, in-
stead of the officers whom they elected freely them-
selves. Thus, the irksome duty still exists, and is
rendered as galling as that of the common soldier
by being deprived of its peculiar character of self-orga-
nization. You will easily perceive how degraded the
bourgeoisie must feel by the destruction of a fran-
chise which gave them a guarantee against military
despotism. At present the last means of national
resistance to absolute tyranny is fallen. Virtually,
indeed, the national guard of Paris is extinct. That
of the departments alone will be called into opera-
tion. The prefects will appoint as officers the most
abject adherents of the present relgime, and these will
be obeyed with reluctance by the national guards,
who despise them. The measure will produce disaf-
fection throughout France.
The swift succession of arbitrary measures during
the last few days has produced an effect highly un-
favourable to the new government. The abolition of
the device of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity,"
and the cutting down of the trees of liberty irritated
the population of the faubourgs; the lids of pros-
cription struck terror and dismay through the upper
classes, and excited the deepest indignation in all
political circles ; the dissolution of the national
Fuard has offended and humiliated the bourgeoisie.
Thus the agitation of minds is grown general, and
no doubt the considerable fall which has taker. place
at the Bourse to-day is the consequence of the sinister
depression which prevails throughout society.
fho l'ays says:

We are informed that a second detachment, consisting of
614 persona, arrested after the events of the 2nd December,
left Paris yesterday morning for Brest, whore a vessel is
waiting to convey them to Cayenne. We are immured that
amongst the number is M. Xavier Dorrieu, formerly prin-
cipal editor of the journal the Ift:rotation, and M. Lacham-
beaudie, author of " Fables Populaires."

Among the 18 representatives included in the
second decree of proscription published in the Mo-
niker of Saturday, you will have observed the name
of F.mile de Girardin. Reports have prevailed since
the 2nd of Dee., that the talented editor of the Prase,
who had been latterly writing in favour of the Elyske,
was privy to the coup cr4tat, and consulted as to the
measures which followed it. I have the best reasons
to believe that these reports are calumnies. Equally
idle and absurd is the rumour that Girardin solicited
his own expulsion. Ito was at the office of the
Presse when he first became aware of this blow
through the Moniteur, and was quite stunned by it.
Owing to his own intimacy with M. de Morny, and
that of his wife with the Countess Le lion, Girardin
was full of self-confidence that ho was quite safe.
lie immediately sought an interview with the Mi-
nister of the Interior, to know the meaning of this
extraordinary punishment inflicted on one who had
rendered such immense services to Louis Napoleon.
M. de Morey is said to have replied that his own
was the only voice in the cabinet raised in favour of
M. de Girardin. The only service which the minister
could now render him was to grant him a few days'
respite, a favour which had been refused to MM.
Chambolle and Jules de Lasteyrie, who were escorted
without delay to the frontier.
A committee is appointed to examine the pro-
priety of restoring gambling-houses.
General Changurnier, Colonel Charras, and M.
Raze arrived at Valenciennes with false passports, in
the respective names of Leblanc, Vincent, and La
Salle. At tho station there the two first were recog-
nised by the inspector of passports. It was at once
suspected that they had escaped from Ilam, and they
were called upon to give explanations. The agents
who accompanied them then stated the fact of their
having received orders from government to conduct
the three prisoners out of France, and to set them at
liberty. The officers at the station supposed natu-
rally enough that as the passports werE false the
commission of the police agents might he counterfeit
also. They, therefore, refused to allow the travellers
to proceed. But a message to Paris by electric
telegraph soon got over this difficulty. General
C'hangarnier maintained the greatest calm, and said,
" It does not belong to me to take part in any discus-
sion between those who dispute the custody of my
person."
The Montt( nr contains decrees appointing General
de Lawrestine, Commander-in-Chief, and M. Viegra
colonel and head of the staff of the National Guard
of the Seine.