The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-05 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
I regret to have to announce that Count D'Orsay
expired this morning at four o'clock, in his apart-
ments in the Rue Ville l'Eveque, after languishing
during many weeks of a paintul illness.
The I'atrie states that no review will take place on
the 16th of August. Of course this announcement
applies to the national guard, who arc then to re-
ceive their eagles. I have taken some pains to sift
the truth of this report, and have strong reasons to
believe that it will turn out unfounded. No doubt
the national guard is far from favourable to the plan
of re-establishing the empire. But I believe that
the purgation of the national guard, which I an-
nounced yesterday as going on wider the orders and
direction of the staff and its colonel, M. Vieyra, has
been undertaken with the object of rendering the re-
view possible, without the occurrence of those cries
which are unwelcome to the Presidential car.
I have been informed to-day from a good source
of the circumstances attending the resignation of M.
Maillard, president of the judicial section of the
Council of State. M. Baroche, vice-president of that
body, was the person charged with the ungrateful
mission of making known the will of the l'rince-Pre-
aident. M. Milliard requested that he might be I
allowed a fortnight to finish some important busi-
nese in the Council of State connected with his de-
partment. M. Baroche said that this delay was im-
possible, and drew from his pocket the paper con-
taining the formula of resignation declaring
that if it were not signed immediately
dismissal would be resorted to, instead of the
acceptance of a voluntary retirement. M. Maillard
at length consented to give his resignation, but on
condition that he should be the only member of the
Connell of State sacrificed in consequence of his vote
on the Orleans question. M. Baroche gave the most
distinct assurance that there was no thought of visit-
ing any of the rest with the same severe measure.
Upon this M. Maillard signed the paper. It may be
imagined what were the leelings of this venerable
ex-councillor on learning that three of his colleagues
had been dismissed for the same reason. To what
accident the maintenance of the four other councillors
who voted against the government is due I Gin not
informed. it is said that M. de Vintry owes hie
escape to the new minister of state. M. Joseph
lloulay is indebted, it is supposed, to the intercession
of his elder brother, the senator, formerly vice-presi-
dent of the republic.
M. Marchand is expected to give in hie resigna-
tion.

The 4ssen46l4e Natioaak of this day has a frag-
ment from a forthcoming history of the English Re-
public and of Cromwell. It is signed "M. Guisot,"
ts copied from the last number of the Rerue Contem-
poraitie, ands headed " Cromwell, sera-Vil lloi?"
The prefect of the Sarthe has addressed a warning
to the Union de la Sarthe, published at Le Mans, fur
giving an account of a sitting of the municipal coun-
cil ot Le Mans.

The much talked-of book of M. Prondhon has ap-
peared to-day. As the only extracts which have
reached me are made in a sense favourable to the go-
vernment, it would be useless to give them unba-
lanced by others of a different tendency. Ho con-
cludes by the following passage, extraordinary in the
mouth of a republican:
Louis Napoleon is really the elect of the people. The
people, you say, were not free. The people were deceived.
The people were afraid. Vain pretexts. Are men afraid ?
Are they deceived in inch macs ? Do they want liberty ?
We, the republicans, have repeated, upon the faith of our
moll suspected traditions_ " Vox populi vox Del." The
voice of God has named Louis Napoleon. As the expres-
sion of the popular will he is the meet legitimate of ova
re
M. Proudhon therefore concludes that there is
liberty in elections where only government candi-
dates are allowed to canvass; that there was no de-
ception in restoring universal suffrage to establish
a despotism; and that people liable to every sort of
persecution for opposing the government were not
afraid. Most people will be of an opposite opinion
on these points, and very few will come to the con-
clusion that Louis Napoleon has been named by the
voice of God.

The Monifenr publishes the latest results of the
elections for the councils-general without comment..
In speaking yesterday of the numerous abstentious
at Rouen, I observed that they could not be accounted
for by the official suggestion that the electors were
busy in the harvest field. I have now to communi-
cate intelligence of a similar character from other
places equally unaffected by rural avocations. In,
Lyons, Nantes, Orleans, Havre, Amiens, Brest,
Douai, Angers, Troyes, Perigueux, Beauvais, and
Nancy, the elections have in very many instances
tailed for want of a sufficient number of votes, and
in those cantons where the elections are valid the
legal minimum has only barely been obtained. In
Lyons, the second city of France, the elections are
void in five cantons out of six, and in the sixth the
government candidate polled but five more votes than
the 1,361 which formed the fourth part of the register.
In the six cantons of Nantes no result has been ob-
tained. A serious opposition was manifested there,
and the few votes polled were nearly equally divided
between the government candidates and their oppo-
nents. At Orleans the elections have failed in three
cantons out of five. At Havre, out of 8,387 electors,
only 1,084 voted ; there is consequently no
election. In Amiens, one canton out of three; in
Troyes, two cantons out of three have failed to return
any member. The elections are wholly void at Beau-
vais, Angers, and Nancy. At Perigueux, M. Magus,
the minister of public works, obtained but 9 more
votes than were absolutely necessary, The Parisian
press is unanimous in recording these remarkable
facts. The Preue observes that the elections are
characterised by an indifference without parallel in
the history of universal suffrage. In some few cases
opposition candidates have been elected. At Bulbs°
they obtained 1,100 votes against about 200 given to
the government candidates. But so far as is yet
known no serious opposition has been attempted in
more than three or four places. A proclamation by
M. Brian, the prefect of the Charente Inferieure, In
favour of the government candidate, Prince Murat,
whose election I announced yesterday, has excited
universal indignation. Prince Murat was brought