The Express.
London, England, 1863-10-10 00:00:00

ANOTHER DUEL.

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PARIS, FRIDAT EVENWO.
Most of the evening papers contain a letter,
complaining of an arbitrary arrest of two French
gentlemen in Austrian Poland, which is, I think,
destined to make a great sensation. The writer is
a young French barrister, K Ribot, who is secre-
tary to the eminent advocate K Desmarest—i
position which fully entitles him to a fair hearing.
His statement is that he left Paris on Sept. 2, in
company with a student, IL Tournier, to make a
long vacation tour through Switzerland, Lom-
bardy, Venetia, and Germany. They began by
Switzerland, and strictly pursued their proposed
itinerary as far as Vienna. There they were
prompted by curiosity to go as far as Cracow—only
twelve hours distant. Their passports were re-
gular, having been Maid by the Austrian am-
bassador in Paris. On arriving at Cracow
the two tourists were made prisoners by •
body of soldiers and marched through the streets
to prison. Some hours later they were brought
before a magistrate, and a Polish priest, who spoke
French, was employed to interpret for them.
They protested against their imprisonment, gave
the simple history of their tour, insisted upon the
regularity of their passports and the respect due to
their nationality as Frenchmen. The magistrate
smiled at all these observations, and sent them
back to prison. There they were detained from
Saturday night to Monday morning, and treated all
the time exactly as criminals. They were guarded
by sentries with drawn swords, who had orders to
strike any head which might presume to protrude
through the prison bars. Among their fellow-
prisoners were many Polish insurgents, taken
by the Austrian troops for having violated the
frontier in arms, and awaiting their removal to
Olmutz. In the citadel of the latter town K Ribot
says there are at this moment 4,000 Polish pri-
soners and 45,000 Polish muskets. As a contrast
to this, and in proof of the mock neutrality of Aus-
tria, he affirms that there is not in Olmutz a single
Russian prisoner, and yet the Russians have not
always been victorious, and certainly some of
them have been driven acmes the frontier with
arms in their handswhen flying front Polish bands.
On the Monday they were conducted, prisoners in
third-class carriages, and seated between gen-
darmes, to Vienna. K Tournier, who while in
prison at Cracow was attacked with articular
rheumatism, was offered the alternative of
being sent to the prison hospital, or undertaking
the third-class voyage in custody. Arrived at
Vienna, M. Ribot found means to write • note in
pencil to the French ambassador there, which a
passenger promised to deliver. Whether the Duke
de Gramont ever got his letter or not he does not
know, but certain it is that he received no pro-
tection from his excellency. The tourists were
placed in an omnibus, and conducted, under a
strong escort, to the Prison of Public Prostitutes,
where they passed a whole night and the greater
part of the next day. At 7in the evening they
were sent off, in custody of five police agents,
to Salzbourg, where they were set at
liberty, and their passports were restored to
them. On their passports, and exactly above
the signature of the Austrian ambassador in Paris,
were written these words, "Expelled from Austria
by superior order." 31. Ribot has sent a statement
of which the above is an analysis to M. Drouyn de
Lhuys. lam inclined to think that this affair—
far from being one of those troublesome and
groundless complaints frequently made by ill-
conditioned travellers—will very considerably ag-
gravate the present difficulties between France and
Austria on the Polish question.
I bear that K Aurelien Scholl and K Granier
de C•ssagnac, jun., fought • duel to-day with
swords at Asnieres, near Paris, and that M. Scholl
was wounded in the shoulder. According to one
report his lung is touched, and the wound is serious.

The Bourse rises because it believes that nothing
will be done for Poland. The snot d'ordns given to
the semi-official journals on the Emperor's return
to Paris seems to be to enlarge upon the theme of
the France, that the negotiations about Poland
have resulted in a great diplomatic triumph—i.e.,
the tearing up of the treaties of 1815 ; and to talk
big about Poland being "under the protection of
Europe," while Russia is all the time cutting her
throat. M. Paulin Limayrac has an article in the
Constitutionnet, working out this theme in his usual
wordy way, which is described by the Nation as an
article °email. _ -

What is thought of the Conetitutionners lulling
periods by the French friends of Poland may be
seen by the following extract from the Opinion
Nationale, in which M. Gueroult says :
The Constitutioancl eelebrates in three columns the
beauty of the common understanding. It shows us Fiance
united to all Europe—Russia isolated—end it rings a song
of triumph upon this policy, which it hopes the French
government will not think of departing from. As to our-
selves, who like to judge of a tree by its fruits, of a
system by its results, we do not find that Poland has
derived any benefit from the protection of its protectors.
We find transportation, confiscation, the knout, and the
bolter all doing their work more vigorously than ever under
the eyes of the mach vaunted common protection. All
that the common understanding has dolls hitherto is to
show the common impotence.
In another column the Opinion Nationale shows
that these semi-official articles seek in vain to dis-
guise a policy which, in the words used by an
eminent deputy in 1847, is simply " Nothing,
nothing, nothing."
The Pays says that Count M. Montholon, the
newly appointed French minister in Mexico, will
not go to his post till the " question of the weevil
tance of the crown by the Archduke Maximilian
shall be entirely settled." Under these circum-
stances, I apprehend it will he a very long
time before M. de Montholon goes out. A
pamphlet has just been published by M.
de Belleyme, a government member of the Corps
Legislatif, which argues that with the election of
the Archduke Maximilian the work of France in
Mexico is terminated, and that the army ought to
be immediately withdrawn, "France not remaining
either responsible or so/idaire for the difficult con-
ditions in which the new Mexican empire will be
placed." Here we get into a very vicious circle.
The archduke will certainly never go near Mexico
unless he is assured of the preeenoe of a French
army for a long time to come. Coupling this pam-
phlet with the announcement in the Pays about
M. de Montholon, I am inclined to think that there
is a split between France and Austria on the sub-
ject, and that the question may be entering on what
is called a " new phase."

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A letter from Coburg, dated the sth, says :
"News has. hem maiived here that Duke Augusta' d
BazoCoberg has met with a serious accideat whilst stag-
hunting at kis estate el Emmenthal, is Moravia. It appears
that he was attacked by • !vg which had bees wounded by
• shot. The due ems.* severely injured that for seemed
days his We Was &melted of. Amordieg to more recent
Letters he is iciM out Mileage/ sad recovering."