The Express.
London, England, 1852-03-06 00:00:00

FRANCE.

mums is 'Gwent., and epeulation dead, it was still
limetnelinel to Malmo UMil terms. But &a pro-
40gOilon of its privilep from 1865 to 1887 was
a pbtent inducement to comply with a will,
whisk tho council had in fact es means of resisting.
This reduction is bf course of the greatest important a
for the new lines of raihroy. The government
has already authorised, wee Dr-1 Luber, the
establishment of new lines rf railway which
will cost twelve millions stuling. Capital hos
to be found foe the lime already conceded, from
Paris to Lyons, from Lyons to Avignon, from Dijon
to Besancon, from Strasburg to the Bavarian fron-
tier, for the branches of the North, and for the
Western railway. Other lines are on the point
of beinggranted—from Paris to Caen and Cherbourg,
from Poitiers to Rochefort, Bordeaux to Bayonne,
and Bourdoux to Toulouse. Now, with the excep-
tion of the Paris and Lyons Railway, which pro-
mises to be one of the most productive in France, it
must bo confessed that the greater part of the above
enterprises offer little attraction to speculators ;
nor is the guarantee of 4 per cent. by the government
a sufficiently strong temptation to allure capital. While
the shares of the Northern Railway produce 7 par
cent, and those of the Nantes lino 10 per cont., it is
idle to think that money which can find so rich a
market will waste itself on uncertain lines. Hence the
redaction of the Bank's rate of interest will be attended

no doubt with greatadvantage for the latter. But if the
paper of the new lines were thrown upon the market
at present with the mere government guarantee of
4 per cent., the elide' t result would be their falling
below par until the balance was established between
the rate of interest derivable from them and that of
the old productive lines.
The Moniker contains a decree respecting the en-
gagements of sailors in merchant vessels, and re-
'living certain old ordinances relative thereto.
Another decree places the conscila do Prudlommes
of Lyons and St. Etienne under the rigime of the im-
perial decrees 1806,1809, and 1810, untda general law
relative to such councils shall be promulgated. The rea-
son stated in the preamble of the decree is that the
decrees of the 27th May and 6th June! 1848, which
changed the bases of the imperial decrees, have
given rise to great difficulties, and could not bo
made applicable to the peculiar constitution of the
manufactories of Lyons and St.. Etienne.
Another decree declares that a sum of 115,735 fr.
is to be struck out of the credit of 638,000 fr. granted
from the budget of 1851 to the Minister of Agricul-
ture and Commerce for expenses connected with the
London Exhibition; and orders the said sum of
115,735 fr. to be transferred to the budget of 1852,
forming a special chi ter in the same, and destined
to complete the operations for which it was origin-
ally intended.
The total number of judges who have passed the
age fixed for retirement by the recent decree on the
magistracy is 155; viz.-6 First Presidents of the
Court of Appeal; 12 Presidents de Chambre of Court'
of Appeal; 62 Judges of Courts of Appeal; 21 Pre-
sidents de Chambre in the Tribunals of the First
Instance; 8 Vice-Presidents do Chambre of the First
Instance; and 46 Judges of First Instance.
The mixed commission charged with the task of
deciding on the culpability or non-culpability of the
persons arrested in the department of the llnime, has
terminated its inquiry. It has set at liberty 1,023
persons, and sent 496 to Africa ; 20 were seat before
the Councils of War; 16 ordered to be taken to
Cayenne; 13 are to be expelled from France; 30 sent
to various fixed places to live; and 18 sent before
the Correctional Police.

By order of the military commission, passports
havejust been delivered to the following persons,
with an injunction to quit Paris in 24 hours. For
London : MM. Baune (Aine); Lefebvre (Hector);
Watripon, a literary man; Delpech, sculptor; and
Jacoubet, architect. For Brussels: Weber, Pelloux,
Girondeau, and Crespelle. For Mons: Couture, shoe-
maker. For Geneva : Victor Magen and Duchotiel.
And for Chambery: Mancha!, bookkeeper; Pelliasier,
laceman ; and Clavel, journalist.
The electoral news continues to be uninteresting.
The governiant journals exultingly state that, out
of 250 returns, the number of opposition candidates
elected remains 5 only. The indifference of the
people will have rendered fresh elections neces ary in
many places. At Reims, out of 11,374 electors, all the
exertions of government could only bring up 4,479 to
the poll. Of these only 2,337 voted for the government
candidate; 770 functionaries and others who were
forced to make a show of voting put blank bulletins
in the box. At Chartres the bulletins of the Mar-
quis Gouvin St. Cyr, the opposition candidate, were
seized, and the porters who carried them were
arrested as disturbers of the public peace.
At a late cabinet council, at which the President
of the Republic presided, it was decided that the
Minister of Finance should immediately send a cir-
cular to all the agents of the stamp-office, enjoining
them to leave the scientific journals in the same posi-
tion as they were placed in before the decree of the
17th of February lest.
The operations of the Bank of France, to which
the present week's returns apply, having preceded
the late decision of the directors relative to a lower
rate of discount, and the promulgation of the decree
from the President of the Republic, which so
materially extends the sphere of the bank's
utility, are again of an unfavourable character.
The discount accommodation has fallen off in
Paris nearly Sj millions, the amount being
36,336,983 fr., but shows an improvement in the pro-
vinces to the extent of something more than 1j mil-
lions, the amount being 70,772,186 fr. Likewise the
metallic reserve shows an augmentatiou,both in Paris
and in the branch banks—in the former of 21 millions,
and in the latter 11 millions. The advances on French
securities have also declined, the present amount
being 14,147,236 fr., in place of 15,256,634 fr. On the
side of the liabilities, the notes in circulation have
declined 61 millions in Paris, and somewhat more
than of a million in the departments. The ac-
count-current of the treasury has increased nearly
lt millions, the present amount being 100,427,434 fr.
Private accounts-current have increased in Paris 43

PARIS, FIIDAT BM MG.
Two facts assume a glaring evidence in the nee
treaty with the Bank, the financial necessities of
the government, and its intention to keep henceforth
in dm dark the state of its account with the
Beak an well u the state of the Bank itself. In
imispesemst circles there is but one opinion as to the
of the weekly statement of the Bank
published regularly in the Mossiteur. A
or half-yeetrly statement is indeed
begiven to the world; bat what means
say be taken to cook such a document I
ne as to disarm public criticism at those rare intervals,
mad to mobs a Pinsible show for the moment, must
remain unbown. But in this the government fol-
lows its /Morita policy, darkness and secrecy, con-
of the peth seceenience, and fear of the
The am risks to which this eatab-
le monad boa its engagement to lend
mow ups all sans of railway shares, render now
more dm over neassmay that weekly public inv.m.
tion of its treassathan which has hitherto served as
the byway Of samemon. But it was through the
weekly stalwart of the Beak that the public learned
that the rsmoinfni IS Wang of the loan of 75 mil-
lions °untreated in 184$ had been drawn to pay the
expenses of the esup teNat of December 2.
Such transactions will in future be sacredly
veiled from the public eye; while a profuse
and unscrupulous government may place this
great commercial establishment in the management
of corrupt or unskilful hands; and some fine morn-
ing the people of Paris may wake, like
the people of Madrid in the financial reigns of
Salamanca, to find themselves obliged to pay 15 or
20 per cent. to change a bank note. The portfolio
of the bank may be discovered hill of railway shims,
the greater part of which may be worthless,
and the whole concern eaten up with as•
predated paper. The next strain to whisk
the credit of the Bank will be exposed, will resit
• from the necessity of giving an impulse to the
societies of creche fowler, and encouraging the
public confidence in their issues of paper. la
the mean time, publicity, the only antidote to
the canker of speculation which tends to sap
establishments of credit, is excluded; the inward
taint spreads unseen, and some day the crisis breaks I
oat, and thousands of families are ruined. The whole
non-governmental prom, for, in the present state of
telitts, it would be an abuse et language to
of an oppoeitios sr an indopeodost prow—
is unanimous in condemning the suppression
_ of the
weekly statement of the Bank. Not without a se-
sure struggle was the Bank induced to lower its in-
terest to 3 per cent. During the most pros-
Mane years of the reign of Louis Philippe
it had always maintained the rate of interest at
4 per cent., and of coarse at a moment when cow

minimal, and in the provinces millions, the amount
of the former being-119,177,391k , and of the latter
27,869,974 fr. The whole amount of the metallic re-
serve is now 591 millions, to 559 militate of notes in
circulation.

At the Bourn the Five per Cents. fell 80c., and
closed at 106.10 ; the Three per Cents. fell 10c.,
closing at 69.70. Bank of France shares again rose,
closing 73 above yesterday's price. Railways were
generally lower—Northern fell 10 ; Bordeaux,
Orleans, Tours and Nantes, and Lyons, sf. each ; but
St. Germain rose 15fr., and Versailles (right bank),
I 3ft. ; left bank, 2.50.

ITALY.

PIEDMONT.

The Genoa Gazette, of the lit inst., has a more cir-
clunstancial account of the affair at Sassari than has
yet come to hand. It commenced in a public-house,
by a brawl between two chasseurs and some inhabit-
ants, who, probably getting the worst of it, attracted
more of the people and soldiers to the spot, when
the fray began in earnest, and caused a great
agitation throughout the town. The national
were called out, and a company being soon
rraOided, commenced its march to the place where the
disturbance was at its height, when it met with a piquet
of cavalry which was turning scorner; this piquet it
unaccountably mistook, it would seem, for the mob, and
fired upon it, killing the commanding officer and one
man. This caused a general collision between the
national guard and the troops, in which several lives
were lost and many men wounded. The Sardinian
steamers Tripoli and Authion left Genoa on the 29th
ult., with a reinforcement of 400 infantry and four
pieces of artillery for Sassari.
Marquis Alberto Ricci, late Sardinian Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Court of Berlin, arrived at
Turin on the 26th ult.

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY • EVENING, MARCH 6,