The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-17 00:00:00

TO CUR KESPON DIM TO.

• NOM. lAD '4ll • I"TM Espers," onninualat •Ins was minplep
"otnnte,"b puotilibni wiry Tuesday and VrAlry 8104 .a Luna
dr Inv •
adstall..-.trata:nisoled fun " IT. Eapros,"l.4eios Evening plot,
L. a al we Oar" 10. Ikneera..tratt, Vy Two o'skok on .1.. k
lay at put,,,ntios.

fliwi WATIO AT LONDON BRIDGE
IL. M.—Manned. SL As. .A/AmisaL
T.,-Aeausi•—)lorries. 3n to Allerssok

LONDON, 11-ESD.IY, .41"GLIST 17.

Ws hear on all hands, and from every quarter
of a scarcity of labour for harvest purposes.
So great, indeed, is the scarcity in the vicinity
of the residence of that eminent Protectionist.
the Duke of lticianoxii, that the farmers of
West Sussex have actually sought and procured
assistance from the regiment of Fusilier Guaids
stationed at Chichester, there realising, under
free-trade auspices the Arcadian bliss of converting
the sword into *sickle, and giving the stalwart heroes
of that corps better occupation than philandering
with the handmaidens of the episcopal city.
This scarcity is, no doubt, partly caused by the
very general ripening of the crop, this harvest, at
one and the same time, and by the fears and ap-
prehensions consequent on the present capricious
and sulky weather, which has already led, we
are assured, to the transmission of large orders
for grain to the Black Sea, the north of Europe, and
America. But, after making every allowance for
this cause, it is clearly insufficient to account entirely
for the scarcity of agricultural labour. To it must be
added the great stream of emigration to Australia,
so rapidly diminishing our population, and
the diversion of hands from agriculture to other
more profitable pursuits consequent on the rise of
wages in the manufactures of the country. For,
concurrently with freedom of trade and increase in
our exports, one very remarkable and encouraging
change is to be observed in our great towns.
Blessed with cheap provisions for their families, and
with plenty of work for their husbands, wives there
have become more domestic in their habits, and are
now able to bestow on the nurture of their children
that time which, under legislative dearness and man-
made scarcity, they were compelled to peas in facto-
ries; and young girls are consequently being more
and more reared to their proper and appropriate
spheres in social life.
Whilst provisions have fallen in price under the
influence of free trade, the wages of labour have
everywhere risen. With cheap food workpeople are
is great demand, and their labour is worth fall 13
per cent. more than it ever was when protected by
bad laws. And so far from industry being at the
mercy of capital, the very reverse has now become the
more reasonable apprehension ; capital is likely to be
henceforth very much under the influence of industry.
'thus signally arc being disproved by facts patent and
notorious to every one, the selfish anticipations and
alarming prophecies of monopoly. Indeed the only
probable check to this prosperity is a rise in the
pyre • o grain consequent on the partial injury in
quality which it 1111 now too clear our crops have
suffered.
It is not, however, to speculate on the abuses
of the corn trade that we have noticed this general
scarcity of labour; but for the more immediately practi-
cal purpose of pointing out what its effect may be on the
enlistments fur the militia, for which the prelimi-
nary arrangements are now everywhere in progresr.
If the farmers about Goodwood are compelled to
seek volunteers from the Soots Fusilier Guards in
Chichtster Barracks for their cornfields, what pro-
bability is there that the Lieutenancy of Sussex will
be able to find volunteers from amongst the agri-
cultural labourers so well employed? If, in the
great towns, our manufacturers are short of hands,
and looking about in all quarters for additional
labour, what chance is there that the towns will
voluntarily swell the ranks of this bERBY militia?
These are questions the government, it is more than
probable, will shortly have to consider very
seriously.
Already symptoms that the bounty system will not
work very well may be noticed. At the lieutenancy
meeting the other day for the county of Durham, Lord
LONDON DIME( praid. log and the Duke of CLEVELAND
attending, it was gravely proposed that the rural
polioe should be made to canvass for volunteers,
just as in France during the recent elections to the
Councils General, the rural guards and communal
road makers have been made to do similar duty for
the government candidates. What is this but evi-
dence that pressure must be put on the rural popula-
tion of Durham to seduce them into taking the
bounty and becoming sham soldiers? But any such
leaf u this taken by Lord LONDONDERRY out of
the book of Ilan Prince, who, forgetful of the gaieties
of Holdernesse House and the hospitality of Wyn-
leard, in his new-born greatness will not notice the
tters of the honourable owner, must be re-
sisted. To let loose the ordinary recruiting service
on country fairs and wakes is bad and demoralising
enough ; but to turn the police of the kingdom into
an agency to work out a bad militia law, which we
were told- would work itself, is entirely..to pervert
that force from its propere repression,
and detection, and punishment of crime. his to mix
up two administrations which in England our na-
tional policy has always kept separate and distinct.
The lieutenancies of counties have no power, as
such, over their police. Their commissions as de-
puty. lieutenants are distinct and different from com-
missions of the peace. They an not under the con-
trol of the Castos Rotolorum and the Loan
CRAM:ELI/a, but under the direction of the Lord
Lieutenant and the War Office. They have no more
to do with the administration of justice, or the
command of the police than any other ratepayers in
their districts. And for the deputy lieutenants to
resort to the rural police to beat up for volunteers
is wholly illegal. The police are not bound,
and ought not, to obey any such directions.
And if the deputy-lieutenants in their characters as
justices of the pew, make any such order on the
police, they will confound attributes and powers
which the laws have intentionally and usefully se-
parated.
But only consider being obliged to think of calling
ID the aid of the police to get volunteers
tee the militia, who, Parliament was assured,
would rash to take the bounty ! It would be
popular in the provinces we were told. Is this
evidence of popularity ? No, no; it is not
popular ; and that these lieutenancy meetings
ere Gaffing out. From every agricultural district
news are coming in to held-qoarters that the bounty
will sot attract volunteers. And why should it If
Gem servants me in demand, at fair wages, it is sot
desirable that they should be taken away from agri-
cutters] hiboar—have all their ordinary habits,
thoughts, and pursuits disturbed---and, in all proba-
bility, be demoralised, be being three weeks pent up
in low public-houses.. For our parts, we shall
be rejoiced to hear that they have became
so intelligent, as not to run these risks
for the paltry sum of ebiLlisst to be spent in
aarouse at the next So far as our influ-
ence goes, we desire to extend and encourage this
feting ; and regard the beat advice' that can be given
the working classes at this juncture to be—liexe
our (4. Tax 'Cum.

And it volunteering fail, the ballot will have to he
resorted to; and then the country will learn what
militia laws re. 117 mean. Before that can happen,
parliament, happily, will assemble ; and one of its
first duties will, it is very clear, be to reconsider this
question.

THERE are rumours current of acommercial treaty
between France and England. The existing govern-
ments on both sides of the Channel have a common
interest in the circulation of such reports aid in
their being believed. Fach is impelled by as. same
necessity to seek for something that may setkis sate
and popular to do, out of which tlicy may make a
merit though they have it not. With the Preach
PRESIDENT the difficulty is to find objects of this
kind sufficiently large in their aspect to occupy in
succession the public mind. To remain stationary
would be fatal, yet moves in any direction arc beset
with difficulty and danger. The exigencies of
Derbyism are not dissimilar. Not to appear
willing to carry out the industrial policy on which
the country has so unmistakeably set its heart,would
plainly be suicidal. Yet how in the teeth of all
their recent professions and protestations, to set about
the task of building the buttresses and flanking
towers of Peet's national monument, is a problem
not easily solved. What is called " reciprocity" is
one of the expedients to which gentlemen in this
predicament eagerly turn. If they could only get
up any sort of treaty with the United States or
France, which they could make a flourish with, under
the plea of carrying into effect the principle of reci-
procity, Mr. IltsttAeu would coolly affect next ses-
sion to have done more in favour of Free Trade than
ull his predecessors; and Mr. HENLEY would under-
take to prove that he had never been an advocate
fur restriction, but only an enemy to unrequited con-
cessions in commerce, which, it it means anything,
literally means that a great trading community
ought not to buy what it wants cheap until it has
persuaded its less thrifty neighbours to make as good
bargains on their part also.
Louis NAPOLEON has, moreover, greater induce-
ments of a political kind to follow this line of com-
mercial policy than the governments had which pre-
ceded him. The astute King of the Barricadesknew
as well as Mr. COBDEN the solid advantages that a
country derives from freedom of enterprise and im-
portation. There is reason fur the belief that his
money-making soul often sighed for the augmented
revenue and increased popularity to be attained
by cheapening to the many the necessaries
of life. And the unavailing regret may have
frequently cut its shade over his declining days
that he had not made the attempt in time. But
history will candidly confess that .Louts PHILIPPE
was girt round with obstacles and class interests
which no constitutional Sovereign, however powerful
or sagacious, can venture to disregard. The " pro-
tected interests" in France were said to have at all
periods of his reign an overwhelming preponderance
in the Legislative Chamber. With a narrow consti-
tuency the dominance of these monopolists seemed
invincible ; and electoral reform was unhappily
resisted by the distrustful Monarch until it was too
late. The consequence was that throughout his long
reign Louts PHILIPPE was fain to court the con-
fidence of the specialities of trade rather than the
general contentment of industry. Louts NAPOLEON'S
power owes its origin to other influences, and depends
for its continuance on the forbearance of other sections
of the community.

So long as the army and the working classes are
contented or quiescent, the President-Emperor may
exile without trial, and punish without ;woof, the
most distinguished, able, and virtuous questioners of
his policy or riyinae : still more may he disregard in
silence the ill-humour of vested interests who appre-
hend that, in the open war of competition with
foreigners, their exclusive profits would be gone.
Could the Lord of the Elysee vane a proclamation
announcing to all the peasantry and ourriers of
France that, by virtue of a treaty which he in his
wisdom had devised, the price of every biome and
shirt, of every gown and petticoat, would in future
be lessened by a third or a fourth, and at the same
time that the cost of every knife and spoon, every
iron pot and earthenware bowl would be diminished in
like proportion, there cannot be a doubt that he
would accomplish a second coup detat far nobler
than that of December last, and much more fruitful
in its good results. The nomination of M. MICHEL
CHEVALIER to a position of trust and distinction
tends to confirm the impression that Loris NAPO-
LEON is not insensible to the advantages to be de-
rived from a reform of the French tariff, and that he
wishes to encourage expectations of his readiness to
undertake that salutary change. Far-sighted selfish-
ness may likewise suggest other considerations. lie
must feel that the points of sympathy between his
government and that of England or the United States
are few in number, while from the hereditary despots
of Eastern Europe he can hope for nothing beyond
mute and moody toleration. Could he claim
the praise of being the first to enrol France under
the banner of Free Trade, he may cherish the belief
that a new and strong tie of mutual amity would
thereby be established with the two greatest nations
of Western Christendom, and that in increased inter-
course with them he would find additional props for
his future throne.

Derbyism and despotism—that is, in other words,
as much of Toryism as the two countries respectively
will for the time endure—have an equal motive for
patching Up what is forth-shadowed as a "reciprocity
treaty." But on the English side there is one diffi-
culty, and that is, that the only important duties
our neighbours would thank us to forego, are
those on their wines and brandies; and these
are precisely what a Minister sworn to raise the
price of barley and hops must not think of touching.
Misgivings, indeed, on this subject made themselves
audible at the close of last session, and were empha-
tically set at rest by one of the very few plain Eng-
lish anis era given by our Judaism CHANCELLOR of
the ExcitEeutit. He not only repudiated all in-
tention of reducing the fiscal charge on foreign
wines and spirits, but exptessed a somewhat strong
opinion that whatever taxes on consumption might
hereafter be remitted, he could not think of taking
off duties on the articles named. A general
cheer followed the announcement ; and the
guardians of hops and barley slept all the more trait-
quill) that night in commenced the re-assuring
words. Can be already meditate unsaying them ?
As for the fifteen per cent which is charged on
French like and laces, that, we apprehend, there
would be no hesitation in abolishing, if the French
government demanded it ; but the truth is that
the articles of these fabrics which are now brought
into this country are chiefly sought on ac-
count of the novelty or beauty of their texture;
they are to a considerable extent what may be termed
" fancy goods" as distinguished from " which
latter constitute the great bulk of what is consumed ;
and from their nature they are incapable of an in-
definitely extended demand. On the other hand,
the articles on which the present high duties in
France press most severely are those which, like
flax-yarn, common pottery, plain cutlery, and cheap
calico, fur which the augmented demand amongst a
people like the French would be illimitable were
their admission once made lawful at reasonable
rates of charge. Willa then ? Manifestly that the
right thing ought to be done by both governments
without resort to any juggle about reciprocity.

THE GRAND FETE AT MOENT EDOCUMBE.—ID
cesierguenee of the wetness of the weather on Wednesday
and Thursday, the grand fete announced to be held on
those days on the beautiful grounds at Mount Ed,gesnabe,
the seat of the Karl of Mount Edgewatet, near Plymouth,
was postponed to Friday and Saturday. The fete was in
aid of the (made of the South Devon and Rut Cornwall
Hospital, the Devon and Cornwall, and the Royal British
Female Orphan Asylums. On Friday the weather was tine,
and many thousands limited the park, and about 9001. was
realised by the payments for entrance at Is. each, and side
01 lane; and other articles by Mrs. l'ule Carew, and other
I ladies, who kindly undertook the charge of the profusely
famished stalls. The Royal Maria. and other bands were
'in attendants, and the affair was a very gay one. The
showers on Saturday limited the attendance to a few hun-
dreds. More than a thousand persons arrived on Tuesday
eight by a special trues from London, most of them no
doubt intending to visit the far-fanied arum's& and gardens
at Mount Educionlie on the Unwiring nay. Many hun-
dreds more arrived on Wednesday trout Bristol and Exeter
and the nearer taigas fir the same purpose. Numb era who
could not remain over Friday were obliged to return dis-
appointed.
SOItEET OARDENS.—The pleasant routine of this
at..roctive ulscr of nubile ununment was varied yesterday
it 3 grand file,- held for the benefit of a society, the
necessity of which recent railway accidents have sufficiently
evideneed—the Railway Ouse Is' ITniversal Friendly So
cifly, and Widows and Orphan.' Fund." The railway
ioter, et mustered strongly oa the ...canoe, and, despite the
iir.uhtfol weather, enjoyed itself in the specified manner.
f mica! entertainment profit], 1 was exceedingly good.
' liottesini, Mi.. C,rety N..tt, and other artiAles hat-
seconling to the bid!., " in t! Pl,:iiilest manner 'wimp-
' ti ered their 'invites," area annousei.went which is only to be
.o..cepord as implying that those valuable undoes were gra-
tuitous. It is to be hoped that this exeelleat friendly so-
ciety has largely recruited Its haulms by the Jae.

'IIE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 17. 1852

FRANCE.

- -
PARIS, MONDAY RVENING.
Great was the consternation of the ladies of the
Halite last night on approaching the precincts where
they preside daily over the sale of fruit, vegetables,
and fish, but were then prepared to mummy with the
light fantastic toe, all armed with bouquets and beaux,
and blazing in their brightest array—great, I say,
was the constemaion of these ladies to stumble upon
grim lines of municipal guards, who forbade all further
progress, and changing merry meetiags to stern
alarunis, checked the advancing waves of thronging
revellers with the dreary news that there was to be
no ball for that night. In fact there appeared at
nightfall on all calls, columns, and street corners,
where bills arrest the public eye, the following
dreary announcement :

PREFECTURE OF POLICE.
BALL AT TILE MARCIIII DI ISNOCINII.

The violence of the wind having, is the course of the day,
torn off the large canvass covering which was extended over
the centre of the ball-room, the ball cannot take place this
evening.
The extreme violence of the wind does not allow the
works required to repair this damage to ho executed with-
out the workmen being placed in danger of their lives.
In consequence, the ball is postponed to Tuesday next,
and the cards of invitation already delivered will be re-
ceived
on that nigl t.
The Parisian, who is never contented with adirect
meaning, saw in this announcement the fact, indeed,
conveyed distinctly enough that there was to be no
ball; but the " why" was another matter. He was
disposed to accept any other solution ot the adjourn-
ment than the one given by the placard. There was
some plot. The President could not come. Nobody-
would admit that the canvass roof could cot have
been replaced without the least danger to any human
life. Many believed it had never been blown down.
It must have been the workmen, who struck here,
as they did in the Champs Elysivs. Having settled
tho question to their own satisfaction, the badairls
rambled in quest of other diversions. The poor mar-
ket women were in a fine fret at the loss of their
sumptuous bouquets, and all the flowery decorations
of the ball-room, which would of course be quite faded
before Tuesday night. I believe there was hardly
one of them that had not in her heart hoped for the
fortune of dancing with the Rui-Presalent, as they
call him. There was some talk of exclud-
ing all dames of halloo who were not bona
fide married and could produce satisfactory certificates
of the knot having been tied in a legitimate way.
'lbis raised an immense e'rneuk on the part of the
demoiselles; but I know not if the arrangement has
been insisted upon. Certainly the Prince, for some
reason, appears popular with this female guild, pos-
sibly for the same reason that won the nou-commis-
nioned officers of Satory ; for you arc aware that he
has given more than one champagne breakfast to
these ladies, whose grandmothers walked with the pike
and Phrygian cap to Versailles. You are aware that
several ot the new five-franc pieces have been
scratched and defaced, so as to render the image of
Cresar less legible than the superscrilition. Use of
these was presented the other day to a lady of the
Halle by a servant marketing for a family of the
west end. "Ah !" said the vendor of vegetables,
" is it thus that you treat our good President ?" and
she showed the defaced crown to a neighbour.
Before change could be got quite a sensation was
created at the supposed affront to the founder of the
Halle& A little child who accompanied the servant'
said with the utmost naireti " Papa did it," an
avowal which in times like the present might have
been attended with very serious consequences. The
fact serves well enough to illustrate the President's
popularity with the people of the Halles.
The ball was not the only failure of the night.
The prefect of police had issued an order to all the
commissaries to send cireculars to the householders of
their arrondissements, inviting them to illumine their
windows. The concierges who received those notices
communicated to the various tenants of each storey
the injunction of the police. To those who knew
that such pains had been taken to produce a private
illumination it appeared not a little singular that not
ono house in a hundred bore the least symptom of
compliance with the hint of the authorities,—a
lesson which shows the impolicy of improving
what out to be the result of a spontaneous feeling.
No nation is deafer to such appeals than the French.
l'he great efforts made by the ambassadors of the
government to procure a celebration of high mass,
and To Ileum, in honour of Napoleon, at Vienna,
Berlin, and other foreign capitals, seem to hate been
attended with failure for the same reason. The
Prussian government replied to the urgent represen-
tations of the French envoy on this head by the fol-
lowing note, inserted in the Strafe Anseiger:

I hear

has addressed
a raaa Jo( • ministry on the sub-
jeotmefthos l°
nadimina Jersey, whose pre-
ssure in ensippahnity the coast of Brittany is
considered dilemma
Ths Municipal emineil. at its last sitting, voted, on
the proposition el the pre.feet, the following address,
in answer to the hair of the Lord Mayor and
aldermen of the city j LOllllOO, thanking the prefect
and the council for the hospitable reception they re-
ceived at their visit last year, on thu occasion of the
Loudon Exhibition :

The Prefect of the Ssine and the Members of the Municipal
Body of Faris, to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the
City of London.
My Lord and Gentlemen, We have received the cour-
teous address which you have sent to us through his
exeellency the British ambassador. Deeply penetrated by
this fresh proof of the close union which exists between
England and France, we are gratified at the remembrance
which you testify towards us. We, as strongly as
yourselves, appreciate the benefits of the bsppy
fraternity which these pacific competitions tend to
establish between civilised nations. l.oder the shelter
of peace, which they strengthen, the arts attain per-
fection, and industry spreads over the whole world its bene-
fits and its wonders. We, who have been the witnesses of
the persevering efforts of our fellow citizens through thu
difficult trials which it has pleased God to impose on our
nation, see that their labours have been worthily appre-
ciated by you. The artists and the artisans, who were
invited by, England to this courteous struggle, the only
one which is now suited to two great nations, will be grate-
ful for this gracious testimony and will unite with no in our
thanks. Vt'e are happy to address them to you in express-
ing all our wishes fur similar occasions of union and pacific
progress.
M. Pellisaier, consul-general at Tripoli, has ar-
rived at Marseilles, on his way to Haiti, being ap-
pointed to the post of consul general there. He is
to be succeeded at Tripoli by M. Leon Roches, con-
sul at Trieste. M. Pellissier's promotion is chiefly
owing to the firm attitude be assumed in the recent,
events at Tripoli.
At the Bourse the Four-and-a-Half per Cents.
closed without change at 10.5.15 ; the 'threes rose
40c., closing at 70.20. The railway settlement passed
off quietly, without any marked tendency in the
market. St. Germain fell 15; Rotten, 10; Lyons
and Avignon, 5 ; Marseilles and Northern rose 5
each; Orleans and Dieppe, 2.50 each; Strasbourg
and Lyons, 1.25 each.

PARIS, AUOVAT

There will be no solemn service at the catholic church of
Berlin in memory of Napoleon. It is supposed that only
one will be celebrated at the hotel of M. de Varennes for
theorems.' of the legation.
The failure which from one cause or another cha-
racterized every sone of this fete extended to the
illuminations. These are generally so well done in
Paris, that public curiosity, raised as it was to a high
pitch by the announcement that all former displays
of the kind would be surpassed on this occasion, was
woefully disappointed. In the first place, the electric
light, from which such wonderful effects were ex-
pected, was not brought into play at all. I learn
that at the experimental illumination, made two
days before, it was found impossible to keep the
electric light alive for more than twenty-five minutes.
The column in the Place Vendome was therefore lit
with common gas. The wind had rlayed the deuce
with the pasteboard and canvass of Mount St. Ber-
nard, and the illumination of the Place de la Con-
corde and the Champs Elysees were a complete'
failure. It was observed as ominous that
none of the eagles, none of the crowns, would
light up. The Champs Elysees was indeed rather
darker than usual, and the fragments of illumination
looked like the smoking brands of a dispersed fire.
Tho giant eagle on the top of the Arc de Triomphe
de l'Etoile wouldn't light up a feather of him. The
electric lights intended for the fountains could not
be brought into play. Nevertheless the boulevards
were more successful, from being protected more from
the wind. It was really a beautiful coup (hell to
look up the perspective of palm-trees formed of golden
fire bearing globed fruit of all hues, made of paper.
The fireworks too went off very well. The crowd
was astonishing. The Tuileries, Place de la Con-
corde, quays, Champs Elysees, boulevards, and all
avenues seemed thick as these prodigious streets and
Epson could be crammed with human beings. After
tCerreworks were over, for four or five hours a dense
stream of people moved eastward along the Boule-
vards. Strasbourg, Rouen, Lyons, all the great cities
disgorged their populations through the interminable
pleasure-trains into Paris. Great numbers of the
country people walked about the Boulevards all
night, and left Paris this morning_ without having
stretched their limbs upon a bed. The marchand de
yin, at the corner just by, kept his cabaret open till
three in the morning, and reopened at haltpast four.
It appears that the President was, after all, not
present at the naval fight. I can state from personal
observation that great part at least of the crowd on
the right bank of the river thought he was there,
and strained their necks towards his canopied tri-
bune to look at him. I °unease to have taken it for
granted that he was in his place. The duty cut out
for him was so severe that it is not surprising that
he should have shirked some of it.

(rum AN OCCASIONAL CORRISPOI;DIINT.)

It is one o'clock. Paris is all alive. A salute has
been let off at the Invalides—a Te DenIII at the
Madeleine—the bells aro swinging at Notre Dame—
the eagles have been let loose in the Champs Elya:cs
—the people everywhere. As I write, the boats and
canoes are floating in full regatta on the Seine.
Vague hurrahs have been uttered by the National
Guard, which will be interpreted into rive Napoleon
live 1 'Empereur ! fire le Pre'sident! according to
political needs. The people are impassive. What
they say is " nothing to nobody." The streets are
crowded, but there is nothing to do, and but little to
see. There aro showy preparations for this evening's
illumination ; but in the broad daylight they all look
cheap and ridiculous. Soldiers abound everywhere,
and are evidently delighted to have something
like occupation. The Sergents de rilk are
in their glory, and aro scolding little boys,
alarming old women, and terrifying the crowd
at discretion. Vendors of gingerbread and coco are
making a fortune. Country people, all in the:r
Sunday best, are gawking about the street in utter
amazement. The demand for pipes and tobacco is
enormous. The wine-shops are besieged. The
weather is threatening, and everybody is armed with
An umbrella. The great effort of every one is to be-
lieve that he is enjoying himself ; and, alas ! the
sweet delusion is hard to arrive at. There is a plump
little woman, weighing ten stone by the scale, on the
Boulevards, and lugging about an ottani terrible,
weighing two stone more ; and the poor thing is just
asking herself how it is that people can find any fun
in a fete. My neighbour, the yrisette, alarmed to
death about her new cap, and its pink ribbons, hangs
desperately to the arm of a gallant currier,
and uks with a famished air, if it isn't best to "go and
dine" ? Turning to do this she runs into a
"legion of honour," who swears by his decoration
that he was never in such a crowd before in his life,
and that if he were Louis Napoleon he would banish
all the ourriers to Cayenne. But the wretchedest
people to-day are the cabmen, who are ordered every-
where by everybody, and cannot go anywhere for
anybody. No one, of course, will hire them by the
hour, and as for working their way through the
crowd by the job, the thing is preposterous, besides
being impossible.
In an hour or two the sham fight will commence
on the Seine. This, however, is only an aggravation,
as not one person in a thousand can see it, and to
hear it is neither music nor mirth. You never saw
a more dissatisfied crowd on Lord Mayor's-day.
The confusion of the thing, especially in Pane,
'is indescribable; and to add to it all, the bells
keep up such a discordant wrangling, the guns
make such • nuisance of the blessed air, the
policemen make such a hubbub, that we can
scarcely hear one's own voice. When the thing was
new there must have been some fun in it. One
could at least get an idea of Babel. But noir that
it Is used up and "run into the ground" it is in-
tolerable.

Polities are wholly apart from it. I have not heard
a politician to-day. Wiseacres prophesied the pro-
'clamation of the empire. But in France all prophecy
is at a discount. Besides nobody cares whether there
is to be an empire or not. It is neither expected
nor unexpected ; neither wished nor deprecated.
'Allis Napoleon knows this, and it mortifies him
more than any other fact in his history. What he
desires is to become emperor, not by proclamation,
but by acclamation. But to accomplish this he must
I create something like popular enthusiasm ; and all
his attempts at this have been utter failures, and,
above all, in Paris. His servile imitation, in every-
thing, of his uncle only provokes comparisons which
sink him into utter insignificance. There is nothing
grand or heroic about him. He is not even myste-
rious. Let any one who doubts this come to Pans—
come to day, it ho will, in full lets. What will he
see ? In fact, what do the thousands of English
who are now here see? Is there anything
here to remind one of the enthusiasm exhibited in
London, on every occasion, in behalf of the Queen ?
Ask anybody you meet, whether in the splendid
cafes of the Boulevard des Italiens, or in the humble
cabarets of the Faubourg St. Antoine—whether
dressed in a blouse, or in purple and fine linen,—
ask him any question whatever respecting this bas-
tard government, and see what will be the reply.
The chances are that there will be no reply, and the
certainty is that there will be no reply favourable to
Louis Napoleon. The initials of the Prince are seen
in all public places on these fete-days; but whether
they signify Louis Napoleon, or Louis Nobody, is
everywhere a matter of supreme unconcern. I re-
frain from giving you any details of what has been
done here in the way of decorations.
The fireworks of this evening, if not interrupted
by untimely waterworks, will without doubt be worth
seeing. And when, in the midst of dazzling showers
of light, the great Napoleon appears in full relief,
mounted on a splendid charger, and in the act of
crossing the "impassable Alps," no doubt the
multitude will shout with joy. There is as little
doubt that amidst all this enthusiasm the little
Napoleon will be utterly forgotten. And when the
ceremonies of the day are all over—when the last
rocket has expired, and the last hurrah has died out—
the
people will return to their homes, not to talk of
11 their Prince President, not to congratulate them-
,' selves on being "saved," but to throw themselves
weary and exhausted on their beds, and to wake the
next morning more indifferent to the government
than ever.

The President dined with the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. After the fireworks ho left the ministry of
marine in a carriage, molted by half a dozen lancers
only. He followed the Rue St. Florentin, the Rue
St. Honore, and the Rue Faubourg St. Honore to
the Elysee, where he arrived at half-past eleven, not
sorry, doubting, to have escaped the additional
fatigue of the hall at the Halles.
To-night the President gives a ball at St. Cloud.
You may form some notion of the crush expected
from this. I am told by a lady that she will start
dressed from Paris at tour this afternoon, that her
carriage may have some chance of getting up to the
door before midnight.
The Queen of Portugal has sent Louis Napoleon
the grand craw of the order of the Tower and the
Sword. This royal compliment is understood to be
connected with a negotiation hitherto secretly carried
on for a commercial treaty between France and Por-
tugal. It is intended to place Portugal upon the
footing of the most favoured countries with regard
t . France. Many people see in this new policy not
only a potent cause of the diminution of English
iufluetee influence in Portugal, hut even a commence-
ment of a sort of n custom-house union of the
southern states of Europe--an idea which has fee-
quently been attributed to the present French go-
vernment.