The Express.
London, England, 1852-10-29 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 29, 1852.

FRANCE.

PAM Torasoar Imortao.
The Cauca it MOM amisiolded this mining for
die des tell Iss 11111 Nair of the day
Jost pn • tithe put ossasorrs with re.
to which has boa on bray are to be
Wall door inridtiog their oonsidera,
doe pet:l4 Important is a hill fee segu-
in Paris, which I stated
=ay had boa bid before them. The draft of
asisolus consultants Ste settling the oonatitution of
A is a mere matter of routine, the con-
Aileen of 1832 having excepted Algeria from
its psovilloas and reserved power to the &nate
to porno ea orgooio law to define the relations
of that colony. with the executive government.
The list comprises drafts of four proposed decrees,
authorising the revival or formation of convents and
religious association& The flrbt of these recognises
SI an establishment of public utility theasso-

elation of protestant eaters formed- at Stras-
bourg under the denomination of "Deaconesses,"
and approves of its statutes. The others authorise
as societies under the management of a Superior Gene-
ral, the Sisters of the Immaculate Ckniceptiou nt
Saint-Moen (Ille-et-Vilaino), the Sisters of St. Martha
at Perigueux (Dordogne), and the Sisters of Merry ut
Caen (Calvados). The remaining projects of decrees
relate to local matters of no general interest. The
principal function of the Council of State
prior to the coal" (relat was to examine
( with few exceptions) every bill proposed
to the legislature, for the purpose of seeing
that it was properly worded with reference to its
professed object, and that it did not clash with any
pre-existing law not intended to be modified or re-
pealed. In this view the Council of State, composed,
as it was, of experienced lawyers in every depart-
ment of jurisprudence, was a most valuable in-
stitution, because it effectually checked and corrected
that crude and anomalous legislation of which so
many instances aro to be found where laws prepared'
by private and irresponsible hands are passed by
popular assemblies. But now it is difficult to
see in what respect tho Council of State dif-
fers from a board of government clerks, ex-
empt in the high pay and gaudy liveries of its
somber,. They are no longer an independent body
of learned men, sitting judicially. unbiassed by poli-
tical feeling, for the purpose of maintaining harmony
la the laws. But they are • sot of dependent fume-
, generics, interposed between • despotic exc-
eed's and a mock parliament, for the pur-
pose of veiling despotism, and giving a colour-
able sanction to measures which they arc
ordered to register, or to put into form. It sounds
ppiandly when it is said that a measure has been sent
lien tothe Corps Legislatif from the Council of State,
awl people are apt to forget that the one body
has PO sore initiative than the other. With reg.rd
to those measures which it is thought fit to call de-
crees rather than laws, it depends entirely upon the
caprice of the executive whether they are laid
before the Council of State or not. If
there were any such thing as a rule upon
the subject, the decree restraining the amalga-
mation of mining companies—one of far more impor-
tance than the majority of those now before the
Council of State, would assuredly have been sub-
mitted to that body before it was promulgated.
The bets aro now in favour of the 10th of De-
cember as the day for the proclamation of the
empire, and it is said that the Corps Legislatif will
meet about the 25th or 26th of November. But
all this is conjecture. The President does not
give those most in his confidence any materials for
guessing what ho is going to do. He delights in
disappointing expectation, and particularly dislikes
being thought to act upon advice. More than ever
ho justifies a mot of M. de Moray, "The President is
a statue which will not stand upon any pedestal."
Abd.el-Kader arrived in Paris to-day.
Part of the suspension bridge of Roche Bernand
Morbihan has been carried away by a hurricane.
Circulation is interrupted.
At the Bourse the Pour-end-a-Half per Cents. fell
65, and closed at 106; the Threes fell 30, and closed
at 81.80. The old Orleans railway shares rose 80fr.
and the new 60; Havre rose 21.25; Strasbourg, 20;
Lyons, 6.25; Bordeaux and Tests, 6; St. Germain
fell 15; Lyons and Avignon and Dieppe, 10 each;
St. Dialer and Gray, S.

ITALY.

TWO SICILI ES.

The Bing of Naples, who left his capital on the
27th alt., has loon visiting tho provinces of Basili-
cata, al* brio, and other parts of his domiuiona. He
is expatited to proceed to Messina in the course of
his tour.

The Official Journal of the Two Sicilia of the 20th
contains a list of pardons and commutations of punish-
ment, granted by the King of Naples to a large num-
ber of political offenders. Seven persons condemned
to death have had their punishments commuted
into various periods of hard labour. One sen-
tence of 28 years hard labour is commuted into
exile. Forty sentences of hard labour for various
periods have been considerably reduced t four of the
persons in this category have been pardoned. Pro-
ceedinss against 720 persons, 4 of whom are in prison,
to he judged by the tribunal of Cosenza, are stopped.
Others, against 878 political prisoners, 40 of whom
are in prison, to be tried by the tribunal of Catanzaro
are stopped, as also thoso against 292 communists,
one of whom is in prison. Among the names of the
prisoners, we find those of Antonio Scittloja, Silvio
Spacents, Don Domenico Savri, Don Raphael Ar-
nedos, Don Francesco de Rose Ninno, &c.