The Express.
London, England, 1848-04-25 00:00:00

THE ELECTIONS.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
IN THE FRENCH COLONIES,

DISPOSSESSION OF THE
RAILWAY COMPANIES.

PARIS, MONDAT, II A.M.
The abuse which I signalised yesterday, by which
attempts have been made to produce a fraudulent
multiplication of votes. by the same individual passing
himself successively for different persons, and then by
obtaining two or more tickets of qualification, has not
been slow to attract the attention of the authorities,
and proclamations from the prefect of police and
the Mayor or Paris apparel 3 esterday, warning all
voters of the p. viol conseqneaeis of s'ich acts, and an.
flouncing tlp.t strict measures were prescribed at the
different mairics to check the progress of the abuse.
Although thn good faith and pure intentions of the
superior authorities its this matter cannot be ques-
tioned, it is nevertheless certain that such abuses are
almost inseparable from universal suffrage.
Yesterday morning the Society of Political Eco-
nomy were I teeived by M. Lamartine, when M. Leon
Fauchet, as the organ of the society, read to the
minister an address, remonstrating against the sup-
pression of the professorship of political economy in
the College of France, lately held by M. Michel

Chevalier.
M. Lam irtine, in reply, declared : that, so far
front desiring to ,heck the progress of economical
science, the Intention of the Mi, ieter of Public
instruction and tho government was to extend
it by dividing, under several distinct profce-
sorehips, that which before was limited to one. This
science, said he, must not be, as formerly, the science
of wealth ; the democratic republic must and will
give it another character ; it will make it the science
of fraternity, by which the fruits of labour will be
augmented, but a distribution of wealth more general,
more equitable, and more universal among the
people will be effected. The science hitherto has
been direct, d to make individuals rich, henceforward
it will be directed to enrich the whole people.
The mini-ter then went on to exhort the society to
persevere in its labours, and to teach the government
how to reconcile the institution of property with the
freedom of labour and the augmentation of wages.
The report of this reception, given in the Moniker,
is followed by a cssunai, of the system of political
ecopomy proposed to be adopted io the College of
France. Stripped of the almost transparent attempt
to disguise it the meaning of the whole is that the
system of political economy hitherto generally adopted,
and as professed by M. Michel Chevalier, was not
consistent with the organisation of labour system
of M. Louis Blanc, or the communism of M. Ledru
Rollin, and the chair was consequently abolished.
The schism which I have so often notified as pre-
Tailing in the Provisional Government, and separat-
' ing the moderate majority from those members who
are understood to represent the principles, more or
less modified, of communism or terrorism, has been,
as might have been expected, still more pro-
minently developed by the arrival of the
epoch of the elections. Different lists of can-
didates (or tickets, - s these lists are briefly
called in America) for the department of the Seine,
have been adopted by the two sections of the govern-
ment ; the names of the members of the government
belonging to vith, r party being omitted in the ticket
of the other. In the list of candidates proposed by the
moderate party, the names of MM. Leclru-Rollin,
Louis Blanc, Albert, and Flacon, are omitted.
On Saturday there was considerable agitation at
Lyons; the most alarming reports were in circulation.
The truth was, they were founded on an intended
procession of a club of the city in the afternoon to
proclaim its candidates.
Detachments of the trooos and national guards
were posted throughout the town.
'llte preceding evening a collision was nearly occur-
ring between a patrole of the national guard, who at-
tempted to take away a musket from a workman ; his
companioi s immediately took to their arms.
At a ecuncil of the Provisional Government held
yesterday afternoon, a decree was adopted definitively
abolishing slavery in all the colonies and possessions
of the French republic. This decree ought to have
appeared in the ilLaziteter of this morning, and will
probably appear to-morrow. It has, however, been
finally passed.
The decree is to take effect two months after its
publicaten, in the colonies. An indemnity is to be
granted to tie slave-owners, the amount and form of
which well be fixed by the national assembly. All
traffic in slaves between proprietors in the colonies
is interdic•ei from the day of the publication of the
decree. All introduction by hire or otherwise of
Destro', into the colonies is also forbidden. This
clause is ',glacially intended to prevent the intro-
ducer)), of e;;roes from Senegal by any system
Smiler to that of the Hill-coolies in the English
colonii s.
At it cote of the Provisional Government held
yesterday. we kern that it was decided that the
terms se wt,ich the railways which are completed
and in full opecAtion skill be transferred from the
respective companies to the state, shall be as follows : 1
The *tierce of the companies will be valued at the ,
avenue ,f the prices which they bore, according to
the Whorl returns of the Bow se, for the six months I
Preceding the revolution of February, and this priee
will be paid by the government to the company in
fire per refit. stock, to be also valued at its average
Price duritig the same interval.
Nothing was decided yesterday, as I am in-'
formed, respecting the terms on which the unfinished
lines will be suiv.d by the state, but, from the circum-
stances of their being reserved for further considera-
tion, it may bet presumed that they will he submitted
to different couditivne It is probable that I may be
enabled to send you the final decree by this evening's
Post.
We read in the Facie of yesterday evening "It is
• !mown teat a proclamation of the delegates of the
Lose mbourg, stuck up on the walls of Paris, invited
the trorktnin to go to-day at 6in the morning to the
"alip.de-Mars, in order to agree on the unity of their
votes. In announcing this fact, we did not hesitate to
condemn the proceeding as having all the character of
an abuse of influence, and we added that the working
population
we
ionwould refuse to obey this electoral reef
e
were right in reckoning on its good
cease and intelligence. We are assured that a very
1104 nai01,...r of workmen responded this morning to
the appeal from the Luxembourg. They dispersed