The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-27 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 27, 1852

FRANCE.. '
PAR'S, Twernaosr Emissive.
The Moniteur, after long observing a cabin and
almost pensive attitude in presence of the opposition
manifested by the English press against to
went of the 2nd of December, has at W.
the modest limits of commirniquels, awl entemell Addy
lance in hand into the broadsr lists at ratetrearey.
Although the article to which I allude is milsimusil
by name to the most widely disseminated er
the English press, its arguments may be
as levelled against all, with one or two "bane ex-
ceptions." It is as follow.:
On seven/ occasions already we have pointed oat the
malevolence of certain articles of the Eaglish journals
towards the French government. As long as it did not fall
on persons, we preserved silence, but at preens% it attacks
the whole nation, and to reply is • duty. The Times de-
voted • long article of one 01 its last numbers to heaping
insults on France ; it compares her to the lower empire,
and modem's her to an eternal infancy. If the Times
were the organ of a people, the French nation might be
moved at its attacks ; but since the 2nd of December that
journal, the passionate interpreter of hostile parties, repre.
tents nothing. hut an interested opposition; what credit
then eau be given to its judgments? Arid what reason is
there to submit to them ? Who, in fact, would believe, as
the Times dares to affirm, that we are disinherited of all oar
rights, and that political life no longer cited* for us? Uni-
versal suffrage in France is the most unlimited exercise of
the faculty of election. We have already said that the
Times is not for us the organ of the nation, in the name of
which it would imply that it speaks. Frr from us then be
the thought of recriminating against English institutions.
But could not others, lees well-intentioned, do so ? Could
they not ask the Times if England can bring forward
in opposition to the calm and order of our universal
suffrage, her restricted suffrage and her elections taking
place in the midst of all the scandals of shame-
ful jobbing? Could it not be said to the Times that
in England almost always the seats in parliament belong to
the moat wealthy, whilst in France they are for all lodes-
needy ; that there the amount of fortune decides, whereas
here the people select; that with us ever/thing is the el.
pre-urea of the national will ; that the chief of the state, the
legislative oorm, the councils-general of the departments,
the councils of arrondissement, the municipal councils—
all are elected by the universality of the citizens, whilst on
the contrary on the other side of the Channel all smacks of
the inequality of fortunes as of the restriction of rights.
The Times may call infancy, if it pleases, this tint attempt
at liberty of the most extensive kind ; but does it choose its
time well to boast of a system which leads to a &cadet open
voting, and to a demand to have secret voting substituted at
medic elections ? Under the monarchy of 1530, the Times
applauded the three days of July, and after Feb. 21 it ap•
proved of the republics° ovations. Was it on account of
the conquests made by the people? No, but on account
of the blood which the people had lost. The applause
of that journal was then as much an object of suspi.
cies es its aspersion is at present odious. Its sarcastic re-
marks against the 15th of August were consequently the
natural effect of antipathy and calculation. In vain were
propositions maditto the thief of the state to fate the anni-
versaries of the ICth December, 1845, and of the 2nd and
20th December. 15.51. Ile would not consent to the first,
because it related to himself alone, sod to his triumph ; nor
to the second, because there was connected with them& pain-
ful thought, and because, above everything, he wished to
bury in oblivion even to the last reminiscence of our civil
discords. The anniversary of August 15 was the only one
decided on, and bye happy coincidence it so happened that
the fete of the Virgin, the guardian of France, was cele-
brated on the same day as that of the Emperor. The country
comprehended that noble thought, and joined in it with en-
' thusinsm. Such is the secret of the envenomed attacks of
the Times. Far from us he the pretension to arrest its
course; our prosperity, let us hope, will long furnish it
with matter for such attacks. But for serious men the
truth proved by facts will always triumph over the asser-
tions of any anonymous pamphleteer, inspired by interest
or passion.
One can hardly conceive an article better calcu-
lated to answer itself than the preceding. Is it, then,
so monstrous to adopt the expression of bits-empire,
applied by the first statesman in France to the pro-
sent condition of his country. ? What was the bas-
empire but the reign of pretonanism, and the absence
of genius, the success of sycophancy and the perse-
cution of opinion, the extinction of literature and the
substitution of pageants and games. " Perpetual
infancy " is indeed but a small reproach compared
with premature dotage ; but who that surveys the
present state of France will say that the latter terms
are undeserved? or who that remembers the men of
the first National Assembly would deem them
chil-
dren when compared with the men of the present
day. Surely Maupas is not so superior to hlirabeau,
or Persigny to Sicycs. As to universal suffrage, we
all know pretty well by this time what that
means, and, whether its results may be
arded as the expression of the national
wiL In the late elections less than one-third of the
electors took part ; and no candidate was suffered to
be produced but those of the government. The
ding addressed to England is disgraceful in an d
eial paper; but passing over that, who ever demised
al ailing the Corps Legialatif a parliament? This
team was repudiated by the government itself, who
proclaimed in the constitution of January 13 its ab-
horrence of parliamentary institutes.
Whatever may be the motive that has dictated
this circuity of language in the addresses of many of
the councils-general' there can now be no doubt of
the intention of the President of the Republic to
establish, or rather to re-establish, the hereditary
empire. I send you to-day,as a document of the highest
importance, a full translation of the resolution passed
by the council-general of the Hautes Pyrenees. To
this remote department, M. Achille Fould, Minister
of State, was sent to preside at the sittings of the
council. It was under the personal direction of this
minister, now the highest councillor of Louis Napo-
leon—his bosom friend, residing with him at St.
Cloud—that this resolution was voted. The utmost
care is risible in every line of this composition,
which must be taken as the direct expression of the
designs of the head of the state:
Ramos PV/LINZILI.

The council-general, all its usembore being present,
unanimously expresses the following wish:—The council-
general, still deeply moved by the recollection of the great
ant of public safety of December 2, and of the immense
services that Prince Louis Napoleon has rendered to France
during his abort and fruitful national dictatorship, will not
commence its labours before having offered to the
Prince the homage. of its profound and patriotic
gratitude. Considering, further, that in once to
strengthen confidence, which is everywhere reviving,
to give the fullest impetus to commerce, indethry, and
public credit, and security to every interest, it i essential
to stamp our political institutions with the chenille, form,
sad stability which is now the ant asesseity et the state ;
eesaiderleg that this stability mitialleveselt fees. the asm-
hineilna et the beteditary with eletil hlav
esiversal selbega agglisd easestive pewees
is the cornerssioni elf Reveauball r ltnnee; estaddsdag
that it is this that Ike Nee* plepleheseadenesell ad de-
tangoed, state it hes Mao apes. 4 Presidad et the
lepshNe the heir et Ilta implelle. ad fiat it is basis&
'manillist fir die whets weeldiabst elsellsetD•eitalise,
berlllllSemietsimed wte iabtrise no
idea solesewllngaelrlea et t
abnet ierce
asilieg ales het the reeilmlildrama of thpono=
leads =See bassete Isandarr the
of new mast epee lb head, by sa eseeptios ea.
exampled's , thsearb= esessenalea of gime,
genius, theof that dynasty dm
only see skewed ids
the theme by dee people,
wan eeeethelOw eillestmers:=l=ead fa spite of
do Poll* die balsepreter of
the enesimeas asetisseess se the thareleasea et the Ratites
rlgossla, Wayeres the with that ss thaella, trig the jai-
dash* sums. le it by the asuatteties, de pepess that the
pis* sled' rosslabliii the hereditary Nee of the imps
vial dynasty la the direst legitimate end edeptive descent
of Priam Leah Nepalese Bonaparte, President of the
Here at last we have plain speaking. It matters
little in what round-about terms the majority of the
packed councils-general may have been instructed to
cloak their addresses. Ikre is the key note to the
whole, and Europe now knows that ail the talk about
"consolidation of power," " stabilitf ," "durable ae-
thority," and what not, means simply the resto-
ration of the hereditary empire in the person d
his imperial majesty Napoleon 11. I call your
attention to one ominous passage in the
above address, in which Franx, if she were not
blind, might see " looming in the future' the extinc-
tion of universal suffrage. The corner atone of go-
vernment in France is said to be universal suffrage'
applied to the executive power, and that in combina-
tion with the hereditary principle. Let the hereditary
principle be established in the Bonapartist dynasty,
and it is plain that neither universal suffrage oar
any other kind of suffrage will have the opportunity
of giving Biel' any further trouble so long as that
dynasty lasts. As a curious confirmation of this view
1 may mention that, in the obscure commune of
Anlnay, in the department of the Aube, a petition to
the Senate has been gut up for the immediate estate-
lishment of the empire and the abolition of universal
suffrage. Indeed, as this petition speaks of the evils
'produced by the "system" of universal suffrage since
Mil, and the suffrage was not, in fact, universal till
PUN, it fuiloWM that the true meaning of the petition
coincides with the address of ,l. Footers council-ge-
neral, and that all popular election, when once it has
set up a strong executive power, is a nuisance. Here
is the petition :
Messieurs les Sensteun—The undersigned *iced% of
ordvr and of emit ty venture to lift up a voice which should

be beard, end remand even as far as the high Noakes of
power, to uimand with loud cries stability in the govern-
ment of tbb country. Convinced that the only gond thing
wanting to Francs to enable her to *goy her institutions
in peace is durability, permanence, with which the very
word republic seems in contradiction; considering the
splendid conduct of Louis Napoleon Boraparto in his
glorious acts of December 2, and that since that glorious
epoch, he has done everything to deserve well- of the
nation, ask the Senate—l. To promote the .ducat of Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte to the imperial throne as soon as pos-
sible. 2. To promote, without delay, the suppression of
universal suffrage so far only as relates to municipal and
cautonal elections, seeing that this system is the only cause
of the disventious and fermentations of discord which, since
183I,:divide the smallest passible commune into two camps,
and disturbs local tranquillity. In the expectation of a
prompt solution to their wishes, they beg you to accept
their jest tribute of homage.
I am the more persuaded that this voice from the
Aube is the dawn of a transformation in universal

suffrage, because M. de Maupsa, the minister of
police, happens to be in the department at this mo-
ment, and, in this cloud, as big as a man's hand, I
think the working of a higher power than a few un-
known peasants in Aulnayis discernible. The
Muniteur publishes the resolutions of 17 councils-
general, besides that of the Haute. Pyrenees. The
Arige is the only one of these that in terms asks for
the hereditary empire. The Gironde, presided by
General St. Arnaud, calls upon the Senate to put an
end to instability, and to endow France definitively
with the institution's that her genius and manners
require. The other councils use less explicit len-
gouge, but, generally in terms of fulsome adulation,
express gratitude for the past, confidence in the
future, and readiness to concur in anything that the
exalted wisdom of the Prusec may require at their
hands.

The government is in a terrible fright lest the
debates of the councils-general should be made pub-
lic, and so the speeches of members hostile to the
empire become known. The Cohstitutionel this
morning, in allusion to a communicated note in the
Journal de hi Alearthe, stating that tho law on the
councils-general prohibited the publication of any
part of their proceedings except such as might be
sent for publication by the presidents of the council,
ventures to suggest that this is a wrong interpreta-
tion of the law. Tho Minister of the Interior, in

consequence, has this morning written a circular to
the prefects, urging them in the strongest manner to
maintain the sccresy of the debates of the councils,
and to enforce the above construction of the law by
all means in their power.
Marshal Ilaynau has arrived at Paris, and is stay-
ing at the Hotel des l'rinceis.
fho mounted republican guard is about to be
augmented by two squadrons of 150 men each.
The Moniteur fixes the 19th of September for the
election of a deputy in the Ilerault, in place of M.
Parmentier, deceased; and the 26th for the election
of deputies in the Rhone, the Lozere, and the Puy-
de-Dome in the place respectively of M. lii!non, who
had refused to take the oath; of M. Itenouord, who
had accepted functions incompatible with the position
of deputy ; and of Count de Morny, who has been
elected m two places. It will be observed that the
labove elections, except that for the llemult, are fixed
for the 26th Sept., the day of the elections in I'aris.
The Muniteur contains the following note in allu-
sion to commews made by foreign journals on the
review of the national guards of I'aris:
It was impossible to n 64 ike the sentiments by which, oa
the 15th, the population of l'aris and the national guud
were animated when the latter filed off before the rrince-
President. Thousands of spectators can testify this. Some
foreign journals, however, in spite of this striking fact,
speak in their columns of lukewarmness and indifference on
the part of the people, and of discontent on the part of the
chief of the state. We a ill reply to these journals by giving
them a piece of advice—to have better-intormed correspon-
dents.

Reports are in circulation of a change in high
military commands. It is stated that General do
Castellano, commander-in-chief at Lyons, is about to

. •
succeed General Gemeau in the command of the army
of occupation at Rome, and be replaced at Lyons by
General Carrelet.

The Patric publishes the following as a communi-
cated note on the subject of the expected tour of the
President in the departments:
The Prince President, whenever he visits the depart-
ment., greatly regrets to see the populations assemble on Ids
passage, without his being able, in most places, to stop
amongst them. As, in his approaching journey to the
south, the length and rapidity of the stages will only leave
him the time strictly necessary to stay for a period, move or
lees long in certain localities, the prefects will take care to
make them well known in advance. The Prince President
thus hopes to prevent, in other piseer, itoooniblogeo which
often cause a great loss of time, and to which it is painful to
him, we repeat, not to be able even to express his gratitude
for lia manifestation of their sympathy.
The absence of any such notice in the Moniteur
this morning has, however, been the subject of much
comment. I understand that the official organs to-
morrow will publish a notice to the following effect :
Certain journals of Paris and the departments fix the city
when the Prince President will leave Paris to begin his
journey to the departments of the south. These journals
are in no way authorised to express themselves with se
much precision. The Prince President has not yet made
known officially the precise period of his departure.
Contradictions such as these occasion frequent
repetition of the old question, " Who is Mr. Com-
munique ?"
We mad in the Pays:
The texts of the two conventions concluded and signed on
Sunday last between France and Belgium were yesterday
sent to the Belgian government, by a superior ensployi of
the ministry of foreign affairs. 'rho ratification of the
two conventions will take place at the opening of the Bel-
gian parliament, which cannot fail to welcome these stipu-
lations which are the prelude of the conclusion of a more
extended treaty on the exchange of the productions of the
two countries.

At ii;ilOurso the Four•and•a-Hal[ per Cents. rose
5c., closing at 103.60; the Threes closed without
change, at 76.83.

SWITZERLAND.

in The Swiss parliament, its last sitting, ,anctioned
several railway projects. The first is to go to the
frontier of Thurgau, near Islihon, to Bomanchorn, on
the Lake of Constance; the second, from Rorshah,
near St. Gall, to Wyll, forming the first section of
the Zurich line to the lake of Constance; the third,
from Lucerne to Zofingen ; and the fourth, from
Merges to Yverdon, to unite the Lake of Geneva
with that of Neufchatel, and being in reality only
the first section of tho grand artery which it is
intended to establish between Geneva and Basle.

GERMANY.
AUSTRIA.

The Fienna Gmeite of the 22nd contains the fol-
lowing sentences of the court-martial sitting at Her-
manstadt :

Count Joseph Haller, aged 33, of Weiaskirchen, in Tran-
sylvania, landed proprietor, and the Rev. Francis Nagy,
aged 63, of Gyirrgy, reformed pastor, to be hung for high
treason, their property being also confiscated. The Empe-
ror has since commuted the punishment to ten years' im-
prisonment in the case of the younger, and fourteen in that
of the venerable prisoner; the confiscation being maintained.
Three yeomen charged with homicide during the civil war,
■nd ;sentenced to various terms of imprisonment by the
court-martial, now receive a remission of half the punish-
ment. A subsequent notification in the Gazelle states that
the functions of the Hungarian court-martial are now sus-
pended.
Count Montecuecoli, who figured in the ante-revo-
lutionary period, is dead.

purpose of passing forged Prussian notes; in cease- I
Timm of which accusation ho and his wits were ar-
rested at the railway station at Bromberg, in the
presence of a large concourse of people, and put into
prison, though no forged notes or anything of a sus-
picious nature was found in their possession.

ZOLLVEREIN.
BERLIN, Avover 24.
The Prussian government has held no further sit-
ting of the Zollverein conference since last Saturday,
when it received the coalition's declaration. M. von
Manteuffel held yesterday a cabinet council on the
' subject, and has gone to Plinio!, the bathing place
on the isle of Ruegen, for the king's authorisation of
the measures to be taken. In well informed circles
it is believed that Prussia will strictly adhere
to its former distinct refusal of negotiating on
commercial matters with Austria prior to the
renewal of the Zoklverein's treaties, and that it will
unhesitatingly reject the coalition's present proposals.
It is propable, however, that it will not do this m a
peremptory manner, by breaking off the negotiations,
However clearly M. von Manteuffel may see that the
formation of an independent North German customs
union is the only. way of rescuing and promoting
l'russia's commercial and industrial interests, lie dare
not burthcn himself with the odium of voluntarily
splitting the Zollverein, which naturally has very
numerous adherents. Hitherto Prussia has regularly
repeated, at every stage of the conflict, the declaration
which it made at the commencement. The coalition,
on the contrary, has hitherto managed to make some
little alteration in its replies. Prussia must go on
repeating its programme, therefore, till the coalition
is driven to declare that it can also do nothing more
than repeat its declaration; then the negotiations
break themselves off. When the plenipotentiaries of
the coalition governments finally declare that they
can make no further steps towards entering
into negotiations on the terms of the pro-
gramme rigidly upheld by. Prussia, they can do
nothing but return to their homes, when Ps oasis
must proceed to make its customs arrangements with-
out them. If, however, the two parties dissolve their
present union, by respectively adhering to their irre-
concileable programmes, the blame of splitting the
Zollverein cannot be laid on Prussia, because the
Prussian programme demands the renewal of the
Zollverein, wile the coalition's programme is based
on a plan of merging the Zollverein into Austria. It
is the coalition's attempt to change both the political
and commercial character of the Zollvercin which
forms the impediment to its renewal.
The minister of finance, N. Bacmciater, is to con-
fer with the Hanoverian premier, Ist. von Scheele,
who ia at Ischl. The issue of the affair will much
depend on the result of this minion.