The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-15 00:00:00

IL LOUIS BLANC AND THE CONGRESS.

M. Louis Blanc has written a second letter to
the Paris journal Le Temps on the subject of the
Congress proposition. We subjoin a translation of
' the principal passages :
Are the English always wrong when they say, " See bow
fickle the Preach are r lam really inclined to doubt it.
What! Only yesterday nothing was spoke's of, noting wee
thought of, but flying to the aid of Poland. The same of
Poland was upon every tongue—its blinding and mutilated
term WOMB before every eye, the hours of its coavalsive
agony were painfully counted ; to hares the end ens az-
&ugly desired, and for that no obstacle appeared tee pest,
no distance too wide, so earrifiee too heavy ; every heart
wept, every band clutched the sword. Aad new, lo and
behold, although Poled lives and straggles, she is be many
persons in France dead, wrapped in her shroud, sad buried.
It is scarcely considered aecassary to think of bar, frees
time to time, for decency Rake, and woo those who still in-
voke in her favour right, justice, and humanity, will be
accused of inoessantly harping upon one string ! Jar now
another subject is the fashion.
Aid with regard to Russia, too, what a transformation
What sudden tenderises, towards her! How quickly the
ironical tone of Prince Gortchakoirs despatches and the
odious character of Mouraviers exploits are forgotten.
There can be no doubt about it ; the cause of the almost
inconceivable change is the re-awakening of that military
pride which all opposition, or semblance of opposition, of
the English, irritates in Franca. Thus, because England one
five day took the great liberty of holding a different opinion
from that of the cabinet of the Tuileries upon the probable
ocanneenoes of the Congress ; because she has had the ion-
lessee to be of this opinion, farewell all sympathy for Poland,
farewell the indignation aroused by an unheard-of butchery.
Journalista of the banks of the Seine, hasten oil, empty your
quivers. England is the target to be shot at.
In sober troth, every head must be turned no the other
side of the Channel when the serious and sensible Journal
des Dibate mingles its paths with the chunours of the
Opinion Nationale, and of all those with whomhistory begin
at Crusy and ends at Waterloo.
Bat what do these gentlemen claim? Is an invitation by
any chains au order the moment it has left the Tuileries!
Has not a government to which another government makes
a proposition the right to request explanations, to examine,
to weigh, and to decide for itself according to its light • • •
Before maintaining that the refusal of England to take
pans t in a congress is a mark of vile jealousy, a merely no-
tate:al act, an insult to France, kn., one thing should be
proved ; it is that the assertion that " the peace of the world
would result from a coogrees" is as incontestable an axiom
as that "a right line is the shortest between any two points."
Until that is proved England will be justified in asking by
what principle of equity and liberty 'the is called upon in as
essentially controversial question to hold no other opinion
than that of the Imperial government.
And let not the form of the refusal be urged. The de-
spatches of Earl Russell are firm in style, but in no way
uncivil, discourteous, or abrupt. Every point is disarmed
with a care and a determination which evince an exceed-

Wily sincere and attentive preliminary examination. At
the most it might be said that an absence is discernible of
those wire-drawn and absurdly brayed phrues in which
diplomatic hypocrisy is accustomed to array itself. But,
on the one hand, the employment of this style without
arrogance and appropriate without insipidity, is charge-
eristic of the manner of Earl Russell, who has never
written otherwise ; and on the other hand, U a question of
mere foam were involved, would not the English govern-
ment be justified in meeting complaint by complaint
M. Louis Blanc concludes his letter in the
following terms :
I do not certainly pretend to constitute myself the thick
and thin defender of England. A Frenchman, and •
thorough Frenchman, I am less disposed than any one to
shut my eyes to the faults of • nation whose •eGion has
been on more than one occasion injurious to my country.
But this nation has solid and strong qualities that it would be
puerile to ignore, that it is unjust to deny, and that
it is dangerous to disregard. There is about it, too, what is
great, very great ; it represents throughout the world the
principle of liberty.
_ _ _

It is for these reasons I consider that those in From*
who strive to stir up against England in the present lint.
of Europe the flames of national rivalry and military m-
eistromit ought to be ranked among the enemies of liberty,
or among its blind admirers.
Id the English be reproached with carrying too far the
worship of their interests, with looking more to facts than
to priociples, with too often seeing only the narrow side
of things, with thinking too much of themselves as
a nation. Be it so. But we must take core. This is
only a spears of egotism. The passion of predo-
miastiog in war is not less egotistical than the
passion of predominating in commerce, and it is more
dissstrous. This is what Frenchmen who prefer the honour
sod the proud satisfaction of serving France to the profit of
flattering her are bound to proclaim aloud to her.
Yes, to appeal to vanity and national rancour in order to
excite against a free nation a nation whose priocipal business
is to become free, is, whether knowingly or otherwise, to
compromise the muse of liberty.

AMERICAN MAIL STEAMZRB Due THIS WEIL
There are three mails due at Liverpool this week from the
United States, viz. :—City of Baltimore, from New York
on the sth, may be expected at Queenstown late tonight
or early to-morrow (Wednesday) morning ; the A
from Portland on the sth, may be looked for at Loadoe-
Jerr is the cosine of to-morrow. The Cunard steamer
Arabia, from Boston on the 9th and Halifax early is the
morning of the 11th, may be expected to reach Queenstown
in the course of Saturday next. Should the City of Balti-
more call off Cape Race we shall have, should she receive
despatches, a week's later news from the United States.
BURNING OP Two MORE AMERICAN SHIES BY THE
Aumula.—lntelligence was received in Liverpool yes-
terday, by the India and China mail, to the effect that the
notorious Coafederate cruiser Alabama, which we reported I
a few days ago as baring left the neighbourhood of the
Cape of Good Hope for the eastward, had been making
hereeU known amoogat the American shipping bound from
the East Indies, ht., and had up to the latest sow:ante
captured and destroyed two trot clam American merchant-
men. From the few particulars brought by this mail
we learn that the barque Amanda, under the
command of Captain Luribee, which left Ma-
nilla for Cork for orders on the 18th of September
last, with a valuable cargo of cigars, hemp, indigo, coffee,
and pepper, was fallen in with off Java Head by the Ala-
bama, captured, and afterwards destroyed. The Armada
was a fine clipper barque of 595 toes, built at Maine, in 1861,
and owned by Messrs. J. T. Stevens, of that city. The
other vereel burnt by the Alabama was the well.koows East
India and Chios trader Winged Rase, commanded by:Capt.
Cummings. This vessel left Manila on the rith of Septem-
ber for hew York, and ale. managed to fall in with the
Alabama off Java Head, and after undergoing the prelimi-
nary course of showing paper., fie., wee declared a lawful'
prize to the Confederate government and destroyed. The
cargo of the Winged Racer was very valuable, betag
priscipally Waste, cigars, and coffee. The Winged Racer
was built in Boston in 1852, was 1,767 tone burthes, sad
was owned is New York by Messrs. it. J. Taylor and Co.
The hied intsWgeses received from the Mauritius states
that the United States war steamer Vanderbilt, Captain
Baldwin, had left St. Louis, bound to the r...t Indies, ho.,
in search of the Alabama, Captain Baldwin having bee. ap-
prised of the oroiziog ground of the fungus Confederate
cruiser. Maws. Lee and Nightingale, of Liverpool, have
published a fall history of the Alabama, from the time of
her leavinig Liverpool math her snivel at Simon's Bay.
THE URRAT EAKTERN.—PRGPOSED LOTTERY DIM-
-7510071011.—The Liverpool creditors met 'Jain yesterday to
consider the two schemes of the formation a new company
in which the creditors shall stand u paid up shareholders,
sad the dispeml of the ship by lottery. The opining was
decidedly in favour of the latter project, particularly as it
was ascertained that counsel in Load= had reported in
favour of its practicability. The assortments for the
lottery world be carried out at Frankfort-oa-the-Meine,
though the shares would all be held is Harked. It is pro-
pooled to have 200 prizes, ranging from 20,0001. to 2101,