The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-26 00:00:00

'CAE EXPRESS, MONIMY EVENING, JULY 26, 1852

PRANCE.
PARIS, SATOIDAT EVISIWO.
The President Oohed Pens yesterday evening at
seven. The atlempl Is pump oat of the Parisians an
eche to the-essamitalkes of Strasbourg proved a com-
plete kilos. biked, since I have had an opportu-
nity of compering the naked fact with the official
version I isa grown soh more incredulous as to the I
reality dike bdsp, enthimiaset of the popula-
tions of Ahem aid LioAiie. Immediately after I
had despekheiq letter or yesterday I visited the
whole Ike elmig whl i the troops were drawn up. I
was stook et Smitlip the thin attendance of spec-
tator% IMO kited wee tenth less than on ordinary
woke* sinning a Ike arm ear evening along the
western kinkeemis. The owed thickened, however,
easeihman=hll the oaten faulsourgs; but this
ar people was the natural cones-
neense of the choked circulation, not a living
to penetrate the line of soldiers
on efthelisAT:ll:llll Ulte way. At 7 o'clock the bells of
Notre Dago end of all the other chenille., together
with the hesealsg of 101 guns, announced the
Princes arrival at the railway terminus. There
were einedged at the station to receive him Prince
Jerome Bonaparte, president of the senate, the Arch-
bishop of Parts and his grand vicars in their robes,
all the ministers, the prefects of the Seine and of
efield dignitaries of the Mate, General Ike
all the general officers of the army of
and a large number of senators, deputies, and
onneMore of state, all in full uniform. At a quarter
pot 7 the procession est out. The two squadrons of
guides, an the Ist Regiment of Lancers, with their
respective bands, preceded the open carriage of the
Prince, which was guarded by 20 carabineers. The
7trteettment of Lancers followed. The procession
pat • foot pace along the Rue
Chabrol, the Faabotuit St. Dents, and the
Boulevards, as far as the Madeleine, where the Prince
was received by the curt and clergy of that parish,
who were drawn up with the cross at their head, in
front of the_ portico of the church. The Prince then
condoned hi rote by the Rue Royale, across the
Plies de be Ossorde, where three batteries of artil-
lery were placid, down the avenue of the Champs
Elyebes to the Barriers de l'Etoile, and thence to St.
Cloud. Nothin4 an exceed the glowing accounts
given in the official and semi-edictal organs of the
dense crowds of spectators, and of the enthusiasm of
their demonstration. From all that I witnessed my-
self, and from what I can gather from other impar-
tial sources, these narratives are marked by the
most unblushing misrepresentation. Generally the
reception of the President wu extremely cold. Where
I stood he was received with unmistakeable, chilling,
solemn silence. Here and there • hireling cry vainly
strove to wake an echo, and died away in space, like
a mound uttered far from the haunts of men. There
was something terrible in the holyday show, the
military display, the crowded streets, the peopled win-
dews, and the absence of any demonstration of sympa-
thy. The crowd looked like a collection of wax figures.
It was the hour when the cafes are full—the leisure
hour of the promenade after dinner, and of the
evening chat in chairs under the trees. Those who
were at home came to their windows to look out, but
there were certainly none of those paying tenants
who compete anxiously for six square inches of space
on really exciting public occasions. However, there
was a crowd, and this crowd was inanimate ; its
silence was striking. It was evident, upon reflection,
that this immobility betokened something more than
indifference. It would otherwise have been unna-
tural. Not only were there none of those signs of
interest and animation which people show when they
go out to see even the commonest sight together, but
the ordinary buss, the busy hum, that attends an
agglomeration of men, was hushed. As the cortege
approached, the natural thrill of expectation seemed
forcibly suppressed ; as it panned by, every face be-
came cold, blank, passionless. No hostile cry was
heard ; no man was so senseless as to provoke
the surrounding legions, among whom were
seen those very soldiers whose deadly bullets but
six short months since scarred the peaceful dwel-
lings, from which the marks, yet visible, frowned
ominously upon the triumphal car. Not a sarcasm
was uttered even to a friendly ear, for the lictors
were present, and spies were at the corner of every
street. But if the silence of the people be the lesson
of their rulers, that lesson was given last night withl
an emphasis which I must have seen to have
believed, and, having seen, shall never forget. From
the Porte St. Denis to the Madeleine scarcely a head
was uncovered as the President passed. He
bowed repeatedly, however, to the vacant crowds
on either hand. At the cafe at the corner of
the Rue Montmartre four waiters mounted
on a stool, and attempted to raise • cheer. Here
and there, at wide intervals, a solitary female might I
be seen convulsively waving her pocket handker-
chief at a window. I saw a man forcibly restrain
a lady front so employing herself, as if he thought
the exhibition indecent on the site of the massacre of I
Dec. 4. Occasionally the drums beat to relieve the I
appalling silence that prevailed. But everywhere I
the imperturbable attitude of the masses was main-
tained. I know not what orders may have been,
given to the troops, bat I heard no cry of any kind
from them. As the military regulations prohibit
cries under isms, the government may avail itself of
this ecologic Ask ontenese.

The Waiters have been to-day to St. Cloud, and
held a cabinet council presided over by Louis Napo-
leon. The President bee determined not to lay the
foundatiem dear of the Lew" es had been at first
decided, bat to leave this beaver to IL Casablanca.
This is to take plass 6941111 MW Naming at
eine. A ersiai struck at the Mint to memmemorato
this coolies, and bearing en one side tin boa of
Louie Napkin, is to be enclosed la the atone.
The bat thep *as: Meneheser aro mewled
with M. de s new list et Eerier* and dirty
mayors, for the of ileartatents and arrondis-
laments. la the of Britten so neral
is the deteneinedela to imam as snarledplace
at the Made et tin protest goverment that it is ex-
ceedingly dillieult to Mai mayors who will serve.
On the other hand, the legitimists are in open rebel-
lion against the orders of the Count de Chambord to
abstain from canvassing foe seats in the Councils-
General. They cover their disobedience with the
excuse that it is not a political, but a municipal,
Aloe which they seek to fill : and men who occupy
their position as proprietors in the departments can-
not abdicate the influence which they have hitherto
exercised in voting lines of road, rates, and other de-
partmental concerns. The Count de Chambord seems,
indeed, to be surrounded by anything but judicious
advisers, when he is constantly issuing manifestoes
which his partisans are obliged to disobey.
By the death of Count Excelinans, the number of
marshals is reduced to four, via., Marshals Mlle,
Jerome Bonaparte, Hariepe, and Valliant. The
leading candidates for the two vacant batons are
Schramm, Castellane, St. Arnaud, and Magnan.
Accounts have been received of the arrival of the
Charlemagne at Syn. After taking in coals at that
port, she continued her route for Constantinople.
M. Lemoyne, formerly French consul at Alexan-
dria, has been appointed consul-general and chargé
d'affaires of France at Buenos Ayres, and is to set out
soon for his post to join M. de St. George, the
special envoy at La Plata.

_
News has been received of the arrival at Tahiti of
Captain Page, commander of the French establish-
ments in Oceania, whose flag was hoisted on board
the frigate Arthemise.
The Four-and-a-Half per Cents. closed to-day at
103.20, with a fall of 10 centimes. The Threes fell
60. and closed at 72.46.

SUNDAY Eviitnio.
This morning took place the ceremony of laying
the foundation-stone of the new buildings of the
Louvre. Count Canibianca, minister of state, to
whom I mentioned yesterday that the President had
delegated the function of presiding at this inaugura-
tion, was early on the ground, whose dust had been
laid by heavy thunder-showers. The leading civi-
lian in attendance was the Marquis d'Audriffret,
senator and president of the Committee of Control of
Civil Buildings. Among the miltary guests appeared
Orneral Magnan, commander-in-chief of the army
of Paris, with the officers of his staff.
Count Nieuwerkerke, director of museums, and
M. Visconti, the architect appointed to execute this
great work, stood also by the trench opened to re-
ceive the foundation-stone. Before taking the silver

trowel M. Casablanca nob & speech, freeing the
history of the building a the Louvre. The curate
of St. German L'Auzserols, followed by his clergy,
recited the usual prayers, and blessed the stone and
medals to be inclosed. The ceremony was then com-

pleted in the customary form. The stormy weather
caused only a sprinkling of people to be preeent.
I informed yon that General Dufour was commis-
sioned by the Swiss Confederation to congratulate
L. Napoleon at Strasbourg. It is snid that serious
conversation passed between the Prince and the
Swiss general on the question of Neufchatel. From
the impression left on Oen. Dufour's mind by this
, conversation, it would appear that France is rather
I disposed to Jack out of the position in which she
placed herself by the signature of the pro-
tocol of London, thereby giving, pre tango,
an adhesion to the treaties of Vienna. The
French government, it is now said, will undertake to
mediate between Switzerland and Prussia for a pe-
cuniary indemnity to the latter state in consideration
of relinquishing the claim of sovereignty over Neuf-
chatel. The King of Prussia is just the last sove-
reign in the world to listen to any proposition of the
kind. We may therefore expect that any negotia-
tions undertaken by France in this direction will be
received with any thing but favour at Berlin, more
particularly as they may be supposed to conceal the
design of annexing on some future occasion the terri-
tory abandoned by Prussia.
The President sent from Baden his aide-dc-camp,
Colonel Fleury, with the Grand Cross of the Legion
of Honour to the Grand Duke of Baden. Another
aide.le•camp, General Canrobert, was sent to Darm-
stadt

All political parties are actively canvassing for the
elections of the councils-general. From the mode
in which the departmental authorities are conducting
their manceuvres for the exclusion of opposition can-
didates, we are still better acquainted than at the
elections of the Corps Legialatif with the way of
managing universal suffrage under Louis Napoleon.
A notable instance of the dishonest practices resorted
to by subordinate functionaries has just reached my
knowledge. M. Gute, • member of the expiring
council-general of the Manehe, published in a recent
number of the journal de Cherbourg an advertise-
ment, announcing to the independent electors of that
canton his intention to offer himself again as a can-
didate for their suffrages. To the great surprise of
this gentleman and friends, at the head of a succeed-
ing number of this newspaper appeared • comma-
, Rigid, stating that M. Orme could not be sleeted, as
ho paid no direct taxes in the canton as the law
prescribed; and that in consequence all votes in his
favour would be thrown away. Now the qualifi-
cation prescribed by the law, enacted in July 1848,
is that a candidate to be elected councillor-
general must pay direct taxes in the department.
and is therefore falsely and maliciously described by
the official communication to the Journal de Cher-
bourg, which substitutes " canton" for " depart-
ment," to the prejudice of the liberal candidate's
election. But this is not all. Together with the
communique the sub-prefect had sent to the editor
a notice requiring him to insert the warning relative
to M. Gage's ineligibility, but not to publish any
rectification or comment thereupon, nor even the
notice of requisition. Now this prohibition is wholly
illegal, it being the common practice of all journals.
in conformity with the late decree of February 17 on
the press, to publish with the official article the no-
tice requiring its insertion. Neither does the dicta-
torial decree forbid rectification or comment. Here
then we have the chief authority of a canton forcing
a journal to state a deliberate lie in order to frustrate
the election of a liberal candidate to the council
of a department, and prohibiting the correction or
discussion of that lie, and even the publication of the
prohibition. Thus an impudent misstatement of the
law is proclaimed by the officer whose duty it is to
enforce the law, and a tyrannous silence is imposed
upon those who suffer by his lie; while one-half of
the public are gagged and the other half cheated.
Generally, the authorities are too ready to avow and
even to boast of an act of oppression, but even the
vulgar courage to avow his own order is wanting to
the pasha of Cherbourg; and he commands the
editor to conceal the fact of his having used the gag.l
By the way, these eonimuniquie to provincial papers
have raised a curious question. It seems that every
petty official upstart conceives himself entitled to
issue a notice to a newspaper, with a for-
mal requisition for its insertion. This mul-
tiplied impertinence, producing a swarm of
eemmuniquhr from clerk, of the smallest official
magnitude, has so discredited the higher spheres of
office, that it hes been found necewry to take a de-
cisive step to stop the abuse. Accordingly we find
to-day in the journals of the Dordogne a notice from
the prefect of that department announcing that the
Minister of the Interior has ordered that in future no
communication to a newspaper is to be considered as
official unless emanating from the prefect himself.
Asa striking instance of the dissension prevailing
between the legitimists on the subject of the Count
de Chiunbord's latest injunctions, I may mention that
in the department of the Maine-et-Loire, M. de
Boyssard continues to canvass for a seat in the
oouncil•general, while his more orthodox colleague,
Count de Quatre-Barbes had withdrawn his candida-
ture out of respect to the word of command from
Frohsdorf. It is still more important to note that a
leading disciple of M. de Falloux, M. Albert de Res-
meguier, has offered himself as a candidate in the
Basses-Pyrenees, which department he represented
in the Nation Assembly. M. de Campaign, an in-
fluential legitimist, offers himself at Toulouse, and
M. Feral, one of the chief royalists and most eloquent
advocates of the south, comes forward at the same
place. Most of the members of the Corps Legislatif
appear among the candidates for seats in these depart-
mental councils. Among others I notice the name of M.
de La Guerronniere, who,though deputy for Le Centel,
stands for a seat in the Haute-Vienne. Meanwhile
the Duke de Levis, the feeble counsellor of the feeble
court of Frohsdorf, has arrived in Paris, and settled
himself at the Chateau do Noisiel, in the Seine-et-
/Larne, a short walk from the capital, whither he
am every now and then to hold conferences with
his colleagues, the Duke des Cars, and M. Chapot,
and to shake his head at the sensible expostulations
of M. Berryer and his followers against the absurd,
impracticable policy of his master.
The decrees of Jan. 22 continue to be rigorously
executed. Large placards are posted up announcing
for sale the forests belonging to the Duke d'Aumale,
in the departments of the Ardennes, the ?dense, and