The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-02 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, THIJIGIDAT EVENING.
To-day I have to communicate an important piece
of intelligence, which reaches me from a good source.
The police have been at work all night, and the
bureau of political police has been sitting en perma-
nent* since yesterday evening. It appears that
while the capital was hushed in dead repose, at three
or lour this morning, forty persons were arrested.
The motive of this proceeding is the discovery of a
conspiracy against tho person of the Prince-Presi-
dent. I have not been able to discover to what class

of society, nor to what political opinion, the persons
seized belong. 1 hear, however, that one of those
arrested is an advocate, but his name has not trans-
.

pired. Nothing is yet known of the results of the
summary examination, which has followed the ar-
rests; but various surmises are afloat, which I men-
tion with all reserve, as the versions of this attiiir
current in the lobbies of the raisin de Justice. It
is stated that the object of the conspirators was
to blow up the Elys:Y. Another, and more probable
supposition is,that they wanted to destroy the Prince
by means of an infernal machine. The police,
according to the last report, have long had their eyes
upon the mechanics charged with the execution of
this machine. Ono day some agents of the policy
apprised him that they knew he was preparing such
I and torch arms, which had been ordered. The smith
replied that all that was true, and that he made no
mystery of the work ordered, which was quite com-
mon, and in the ordinary course of his craft. The
agents then said that the arms which he mentioned
as common gun-barrels were in fact parts of an
infernal machine. The gunsmith replied that if they
were intend...d fur any. such purpose, he would have
nothing more to do with the business. The agents
then assurred him that, on the contrary, he must
proceed with his work; but they charged him, as he
valued his life, to inform them when it was on the
point of being completed. The upshot of the affair
was the arrest last night, en masse, of all the persons
connected in any way with the conspiracy. Such
are the only details I have yet been able to learn
about this matter.

You ate alretnly aware that one of the chief argu-
ments alleged by the French government in favour
of their plan of (fetting up a 90-gun ship of war to
Constantinople, in the teeth of treaties, is that each
ambassador is allowed an armed vessel for his service.
This is true; but so great has been the jealousy dis-
played on this subject by the Turkish government
that these armed vessels at the service of ambassa
dors arc only steamers, mounted with two or three
guns, and never men•of-war. Not along ago a shot
was tired by the Turkish garrison of the castle of the
Dardanelles at a little steamer which conveyed Sir
Stratford Canning to Constantinople, and she would
certainly have been destroyed if she had not brought
to. The French government have bullied the Porte
into letting a French man-of-war of 90 guns come up
into the Golden Horn, under pretence of her carrying
out the French ambassador, M. de Lavalette. it is
clearly the duty of the other great powers to protest
against this overbearing feat of French diplomacy.
M. de Lacour, the French ambassador to Austria,
who has been on a visit to Paris left yesterday for
Vienna.

The new 31oniteur has appeared to-day. The
characteristics of the reformed official journal are its
low price, •tofr. per annum, and the presence of lead-
ing articles. Otherwise the physiognomy of the
paper exhibits no alteration. It is the same narrow
sheet as before, with three spare columns of smallish
print. The leading article of to-day is suspected
pretty generally of having been composed by the
President himself. It is not signed, althought but
two or three days ago the iloniteur contained a ruin-
niuniqu,' insisting on the necessity of signing lead-
ing articles. The articles in question is a retrospee-
' tive view of the session of the Corps Legislatif, and
a sort of supplement to the President's message. It
is as follows:
The country has just witnessed the first trial of the new
einstitutiun. The results have responded to the expecta-
tion of France and of her chief. The trial of any new ma-
chinery is always a delicate and difficult matter, and the
proof of its being so will be found in all our preceding in-
stitutions. In the present cans the experiment has been
made without any scrams difficulty. The remembrance of
the evils produced by our political agitations, the universal
want of peace and security, the formal mission given to the
deputies to juin energetically the chief whom France has
given herself; all these causes, joined to the spirit of pru-
dence and moderation which presided over the relations of
th.. government with the great bodies of the state, have
aided in the SUCCCS3 of this solemn trial. The best

constitutions are powerless without good-will on
the part of those who are carrying them out. The
mission of the deputies at the Legislative Body was
not, as in 1848, to save France, for the vigorous act of
Dec. 2 bad taken place. Nor wire they either charged with
the task of providing, by energetic measures, for great poli-
tical or social necessities; in that respect the four months'
dictatorial powers of the Prince had left but little to be
done; they had still km for object to renew the old conters
'of the tribune. Yet the session has not been the less fruit-
ful in results. In place of passionate diecumione, always
iodise where not absolutely injurious, we have had serious
labours, useful laws voted with calm and maturity. During
the three short mouths which the session lasted, the govern-
' meet presented to the Legislative Body 84 Bills, of which
only two could not be discussed; consequently 82 were
voted. Amongst those bills, 25 are of general interest, and
68 of local interest. One alone concerns a matter of private
interest. This number of bills, destined to satisfy local
interests, proves what importance the government attaches
to the wants of the departments and of the communes. lu
the bills of general interest several merit to be named—
each as that on the re-coinage of the copper money ; the
convict rehabilitation bill ; the bills for settling the accounts
of the years 1848 and 1849 ; that for calling out 80,000
men; the bill to prolong the monopoly of tobacco; that for
renewing integrally the councils-general, municipal, and of
arrondissement; that to effect the modification of three
articles of the code of criminal instruction relative toolfences
in foreign countries; the bill concerning the interdiction
to reside in the department of the Seine and the Lyons
district; the bills relating to the concessions of the
Cherbourg and Bordeaux to Cette lines; that authorising
the amalgamation of the Lyons to Avignon, the Avignon
to Marseilles, and the Marseilles to Toulon railways ; and
lastly, the budget of receipts and expenses of 1853. Some
of these bills were not adopted without having undergone
modifications agreed to, as the constitution demands, be-
tween the Legislative ody and the Council of State. All
were voted by immense majorities; and that on the bu.lget,
which, as was natural, led to the greatest amount of pro-
found discussion, obtained unanimity minus one vote. The
Chamber could not prove in a more striking manner its
confidence in the government. The bills of local interest
lime for object to mislay real interests. Fifteen of these
bills relate to additional imposts in the departments
of the Charente, Corsica, Cotes-du-Nord, Crouse,
Huute-Garanne, Mayenoc, Landes, Meuse, Morbi-
ban, Pas-de-Calais, and the Bas.Rhin. Foureen
authorise loans in the departments of the Cotes-du-Nord,
Doubs, Gironde, Lot- et-Oaronne and Ilautes-Pyren&s, snit
in the towns of Beauvais, Besancon, Bordeaux, Dunkirk,
Montauban, St. Omer, and Verdun ; and twenty-four relate
to changes in the limits of communes. To these hills must
be added that which authorises the cession of the Bois de
Boulogne to the city of Paris, and that which has for object
the amelioration of the Sologne. Local interests have been
satisfied in 33 departments, in 5 chief towns of departments,
and in 23 chief towns of arrondissements. An Assembly,
which in spite of the uncertainty and ilifficultiee of a first
attempt tit carrying out a system, has gat through such an
amount of work in se short a time, may present itself before
the persons who elected it with the consciousness of bevies
properly performed its duty.
The general inspection of the army throughout
France commences this day.. The reviews fur the
divisions of the army of Paris will take place in the
Champ de Mars.
Fight or ten etyjs and wine shops were closed at
Marseille on Saturday last, by order of the prefect.
Among them are three well known places of resort,
the Cale de Jeune-Anarcharsis, the Can des Voy-
ageurs, and the Cali! du Grand Jardin. The pro-
prietor of the last-mentioned establishment was
seized with such a tit of despair on receiving the
warrant which deprived him of his means of living,
that he attempted suicide. He stabbed himself with
a poignard, and now lies in a dangerous condition.
The Mon deur publishes the returns of the price of
wheat in the different markets of France, which fix
the rate of the export and iniport duties. The ave-
rage is 171 i. per hectolitre. The lowest price is for
Nantes, 151'r. Sc., and the highest for Strasbourg,
10fr. 85c.
At the Bourse the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. fell
20c., closing at 101.75; the Three per Cents. fell 23c.,
and chased at 70.30. Bank of France shares fell 10.
The Rouen and Havre Railways fell 12.30 each;
Orleans, 7.30 ; Bordeaux and Teste, 2.50 ; Dieppe
robe 0.25; Struhbourg, 3.75; Northern, 2.30.

The submarine telegraph brings the intelligence
that the i'derie of this (Friday) morning, alluding to
the subject with which our correspondent commences
his letter, as "a plot against the state," says: "Thirteen
individuals have been arrested in a detached house
in the ltue Reim) Blanche. The eonjup's, who are
in correspondence with the London refugees, were
busy malting an infernal machine. Many other
arrests took place daring the night."