The Express.
London, England, 1864-08-02 00:00:00

IMPRESS FROM PARIS.

(rzox on ows

PARIS. MOYDAT EVLYING.

The principal interest of the moment is of course
attached to such negotiations as are likely to be
carried on during the few days' respite given to
Denmark. The political needle vibrates between
Copenhagen and Vienna, for all minor questions
may be said to depend on the greater question—
peaoe or war. The daring acts of Prussia, and the
manner in which that power is trying to humiliate
at the same time Austria and the Diet, draw down
on King William and his minister whole newspaper
columns thickly studded with invective. The great
legitimist sheet is specially sarcastic in its remarks.
When the reconstruction of the holy alliance was

mooted, that paper, in an able article, showed that
an intimate union between Russia, Prussia, and
Austria was at the least an improbability. The
three powers might, without any great difficulty,
seize on weaker provinces, but they would be sure
to fall out over a division of the spoil. The im-
pression here is that the gulf between Berlin and
Vienna gapes wider each day, and that when the
question of the duchies shall be definitively
settled there will be hot dispute between the two
rival German houses. However, a Nuremberg
journal whose lucubrations h.sve found certain
favour here writes, in connexion with the Reads-
berg affair, that the appetite increases with eating ;
that when the Duchies have been properly digested
Prussia will snap at Hanover, and Austria at Bava-
ria and the fine country which stretches along the
Rhine. These ambitious dreams are described as
having been in the brain of M. de Rechberg, not
that of M. de Bismark. The Nuremberg writer
sees Austria getting a firmer grip of Venice, and
even recovering Lombardy with the assistance of
Prussian troops. It is clear that many of the small
powers imagine Prussia and Austria quite agreed as
to what course is to be ultimately pursued. A
Vienna journalist, and an ardent advocate of a
united Germany, was thus congratulated the other
' day—" You have long demanded that Germany
should be ruled from Vienna.. Well, since the
arrival of M. de Bismark your wishes have been
realised."

The Prase is modest this evening, and will not
state for certain, but only affirm the possibility of,
the creation of a Scandinavian kingdom, Denmark
amalgamating with Sweden and Norway. Amal-
gamation, either forced or voluntary, is the order
of the day.
The Moniteur du Soir publishes a letter from the
Emperor, on the subject of the new Opera and the
new Hotel Dieu. The first building was commenced
some time ago, and his Majesty, writing from
Vichy, and under the influence of its beneficial
waters, directs that both constructions shall be
finished at the s►me time. Sickness is not to be
sacrificed to song.
The reception given to the Emperor Maximilian
in Mexico, the future prospects of that country,
and the approaching withdrawal of the French
forces, form topics for comment to several papers,
who are glad to see what they hope may be the end
of that unpopular expedition.
The Merwsoried Diplomatique contains some inte-
resting statistics concerning Italy. The first gene-
ral census of that kingdom has just been taken,
and the following figures elicited. The population
of Italy amounts to 21,777,334 souls, and thus, if
judged according to the number of its inhabitants,
it is the fifth European power ; superior to Spain,
whose territory is twice as large as bees, and to
Prussia, whose territory is of about the same ex-
tent. It is in Sardinia and the south that the
population is the thickest, and in Emilia and the
Marches that it is the most scattered. On an
average there are in Italy 84 inhabitants per square
mile—a figure superior to that of France and
Prussia, but inferior to that of England, of Hol-
land, and of Belgium. Lombardy and Sicily are
the two provinces whill in point of population
have of late made the most rapid increase. Sar-
dinia and the Neapolitan provinces come next. In
Piedmont the progress, owing to the wars of 1849
and 1859, has been slower.
The possibility of establishing a military club in
Paris has received a solution, and already a spot
has been fixed upon for the building. It has been
calculated that each year, since certain facilities
hare been afforded to officers wishing to visit the
capital, 6,000 members of the service, between the
grades of sub-lieutenant and general of division,
arrive here to pass the whole or a portion of their
furloughs. The French officer is seldom a man
of fortune, and his pay obliges him to observe
the strictest economy ; a club would enable him
to enjoy many luxuries at present quite beyond
his reach. A semi-official journal remarks that
the French army, or at least a part of it. has
borrowed the "mess" from England, and as
military clubs answer in London there is no reason
one should not succ,ed here. In many parts of
Africa there are clubs, notably at Letif and
Batna, in the province of Constantine, and when
camps were established in the north round
Boulogne in 1854 and 1856, several military clubs
were formed without any injury befog done to
discipline. With a standing army of 500,000 men,
it will be curious should the Paris club not prove
a success. Two things, however, will militate
against it. The French officer may be said to be
always on duty, and the French half-pay is but a
miserable pittance.
Louis Jourdan, in the Siick, turns his attention
to juvenile crime in this city. About a week ago a
band of young thieves, denominated "Francs
Moineaux," fell into the clutches of the authori-
ties, and revealed a state of society which could
never have been supposed to exist in imperial