The Express.
London, England, 1854-01-12 00:00:00

.854. ,

BELGIUM.

BELGIAN RHLATIONS WITH FRANC= E.
BRUSSELS, To DAY.

•
It is no longer a state secret that serious differ-
ences of opinion have sprun g up lately between the
Crown and some of the more influential members
of the cabinet, and that those differences are of a
to bring about shortly a ministerial moditlea-
Hisss,rieslthough in the council held the other day a
temporary arrangement was effected. It may be
stated that France has of late attempted, and not
unsuccessfully, to exercise a considerable " pressure
from without " on the Belgian government, not to
say the Belgian court, by treating with remarkable
and remarked coolness all the overtures respecting
renewal of the lately-expired commercial treaty. In
fact, the negotiations on that subject ars at present)
totally suspended, and since the visit of King Leopold
to England the French government has become, in
other respects, very reserved in its relations with
this eountry. Row far the explanations to be given
rims wee by the Prince de Chimay to Louis
Napoleon, or which may be contained in King
Leopold's autograph letter, will be deemed sa-
tisfactory, remains to be seen. It appears
that it ie rumoured in Paris that the ob-
ject of the Prince de Chimay's mission has refit..
once to a European mediation in the affairs of the
East. The present relations between France and
Belgium, however, are not of a nature to allow of
any propositions of that kind emanating from the
latter. The main point for it just now is to set its
own house in order with reference to its powerful
neighbour, and not to go out of its way to settle the
quarrel between Russia and Turkey.
It is not altogether improbable that the Prince de
Chimay's temporary mission may be shortly con-
verted into a permanent one, and that he will replace
M. Rogier as Belgian ambassador at the French
court. That will depend, however, on the success of
his present mission.

The Indepetulance contradicts the report that the
mission of the Prince de Clumsy has anything to do
with:the Eastern question.

FRANCE.

PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
Whether thefleets have really entered the Black Sea
or not is, on this 11th of January, as much a moot
question as ever in Paris. Yesterday, on the faith of
positive intelligence front London, it was taken for
granted that they had entered on Dec. 30. This is
now contradicted by two separate despatches, one
stating that on the let they were detained in the
Bosphorus by bad weather, and a second published by
the Parris , according to which the actual date of
their entry was January 3. But all private tele-
graphic information on this subject must now be re-
puted unworthy of credit, and the Moniker remains
silent. There is nothing either in the Moniker to
confirm the fact of • signal victory having been
gained by the Turks at Kalafat against 30,000 Rus-
sians, although this is said by the Constitutionnet to
be part of the news brought by the Chaptal. I this
morning sect you a telegraphic despatch in which
among other things I mentioned the two latter
facts. The clerks at the telegraph office refused to
transmit the despatch without the visa of the Minis-
ter of the Interior, on the ground that they had lately
been called over the coals for transmitting "false
news." My messenger thereupon took the despatch
to the Minister, who gave his visa without hesitation,
but I fear it would be too much to say that he
thereby vouched for the truth of the intelligence. As
to the reported victory at Kalafat, the news, if true,
might have reached this many days since through
Vienna, but it is to be observed that the line of coin-
municition is in the possession of the Russians, who
would do all in their power to suppress accounts un-
favourable to themselves as long as possible.
With regard to the reported entry of the fleets,
there is uo plausible reason why the Moniker, after
publishing M. Drouyn de Lhuys' last circular, should
abstain from communicating the very earliest informa-
tion that the orders therein stated to have been issued
had been executed. In this very number, the official
Journal, in an article upon the corn question, insists
with much emphasis upon the duty of government to
tell the whole truth to the public. It is undeniable,
however, that this sound doctrine is not always acted
up to. The curt announcement of to-day that the
Porte has accepted "all" the propositions of the Four
Powers was probably intended to support the
Bourse, but it commands no confidence, because
it is felt that the whole truth is not told. The
public did not require to be informed by the Moni-
tetsr that the Ottoman government had consented to
treat for peace npoa honourable terms. But, although
the reception given by the Porte to the propositions
of the Four Powers has now lost most of its interest
owing to the certainty that whatever those
Lions may be the Czar will not listen totali
would have been to throw some desirable light on the
present state of the question, had the Moniteur ex-
plained what it is that the Porte has accepted. The
only version hitherto made public of the proposition
of the Powers is one com prising the moat objectionable
clause that the old treaties are to be renewed. Ac-
cording to all the authentic intelligence from Con-
stantinople, the Porte was resolved to insist upon
its just right to hold these treaties abrogated by the
war, and to have its relations with Russia placed
upon a new footing. The probability is that
the announcement of the Moniteur is only true
in this sense, that the ambassadors at Constanti-
nople have adopted modifications suggested by the
Porte to the original propositions of the Four Powers.
But if so, the announcement is not straightforward.
If otherwise, there must have been recently a more
radical change in the councils of the Divan than the
public are prepared to credit.
At the Bourse but little importance was attached
to the paragraph in the Moniteur. It was considered
as a warlike symptom rather than otherwise, the
object of it being supposed to be to represent the
Emperor of Russia more entirely in the wrong. The
rente opened 20c. lower than yesterday, but after
some slight fluctuations, closed at 70fr. 55c., with a
rise of Sc. The Four-and-a-Half per Cents. fell 30c.
Railways varied but slightly, ofr. being nearly the
limit of a rise or fall. _ _

PARIS. TUESDAY EVENINO,

The news from London of the actual entry of the
fleets into the Black Sea, although so fully expected
(and although so false) produced a considerable effect
upon the bourse. After many fluctuations the rente
closed at 70f.50c., with a fall of 50c. from yesterday,
and at nearly the lowest price of the day. Bank of
France experienced the very serious fall of 501. All
the railways without exception were lower, but the
fall in no case exceeded 10f.
In case, after all, it should be found absolutely
necessary to send troops to the Principalities, I un-
derstand the Zonave regiments in Africa would be
selected for that service, as being best adapted to the
climate and the nature of the warfare.
I hear nothing to confirm the rumours which have
lately been circulated, not only here, but (as it
appears by the papers received to-day) in London,
that the Emperor of Russia is disposed to meet
the overtures for peace in a reasonable spirit.