The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-21 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUESDAY EVENING.
The cause of the terrible accident on the Bordeaux
Railway is said to have been some unaccountable
neglect on the part of the station-master of St.
Ligue i . There s as yet but one line of rails be-
tween Tours and Bordeaux. A telegraphic despatch
was sent to the station-master, informing him that a
special goods train from Bordeaux was coming up the
lane, and desiring him to keep tho down mail
train on the side rails at the station until the lug-
gage train had passed. This order was unattended
to, and hence the collision. According to one account
warrants of arrest have been issued against four ser-
vants of the company, and the telegraphic despatches
of the day have been seized for inspection. No
more deaths than were at first reported have ee-
-1 curred, but the state of an engineer named Buot
who has several compound fractures, is very serious.
The number of passengers more or less injured is
15, besides the five men who were killed. Among
the wounded are two members of the Spanish
Cones, and the wife of ono of them, M. Msuuel
Laguia•Sampao, and Don Pedro d'Elgado, and Dona
Elgado. There is also a Scotchman hurt in the head,
whose name, as spelt by the local papers, is Robert
Ed waram.

About eight o'clock on Sunday evening two
engines came in collision on the Rouen railway oppo-
site the manufactory of MM. Buddicombe and Co.,
at Sotteville, in consequence of some mistake in
turning the switches. As the engines were both

running at great speed, the shock was very severe.
One of the engines was completely knocked to pieces,
and the two men thrown amongst the ruins of it.
The engine-driver had his thigh and his knee joint
broken, and the stoker received some very contusions.
They were both conveyed to the Hotel-Dieu at
ltouen, where the state of the engine-driver was
considered very dangerous.
M. Dronyn de Lhuys, who some of the Belgian
papers have sent to England on a secret mission, is
• • -
recruiting his health at his country house near Blois.
The cause of his absence during the present critical
time is en attack of optbalmia aggravated by intense
labour. The business of the Foreign-office is con-
ducted pro ton. by M. Thouvenel, but M. Drouyn do
Lhuys receives several communications daily by,
electric telegraph, and is ready to come to Paris, if
necessary, at a moment's notice.
The Bourse opened with a strong tendency to rise.
The Threes reached 77fr. 40c., but a reaction set in
after the first hour, and the closing price was 77fr.
10c., being a fall of 1.5 e. from yesterday. The rail-
ways resisted the downward movemeut, and more
than half the principal lines closed at a rise of a few
francs. Strasbourg in particular was in very great
demand and ruse 10fr. Bank of France have not
varied for several days. They still remain at
2,800 francs.
The .11oniteur publishes the returns of the re-
ceipts of the custom duties and indirect taxes for the
month of August, which amount to 12,368,937 fr.,
being an increase of 431,545 fr. over tho correspond-
ing period of 1832, and of 1,113,937 fr. over that of
1831. The total receipts for the first eight months
of the present year amount to 90,613,579 fr., being a
decrease of 1,293,193 fr. as compared with the corres-
ponding period of 1832,and an increaseof 14,207,231 fr.
over 1831.

The Danis ku the following on the expense en-
tailed on the city by the indemnit to the bakers, in
consequence of the high price of our:

In 1816 and 1817, the price of bread having risen to 61c. '
the kilogramme, it was taxed officially at 50e. for all the
inhabitants of Paris, without distinction of fortune. The
city at that period kept an account with the bakers of the
difference, which existed between the fictitious price of the
official tax, and the real price calculated on that of the flour.
This is the system which is now adopted. The administra-
tion then expended 18 millions, 7 millions of which were
immediately paid, whilst the other 11 millions were reim-
bursed year by year to the state, which had made the ad-
vances. In 1828, the price of bread having gone beyond
49c., the City of Paris came to the aid of the workmen
and the poor, and distributed bread tickets. This distri-
bution continued for nine months, from the 15th December,
1828, to the 30th September, 1829. During that periou,
9,661,000 bread tickets were given away, the average value
of each being 13c., and with the expenses these tickets cost
about 1,00,000 ft. The number of persons relieved
amounted in the maximum to 227,000, and in the average
to 141,000. This expense of 1,650,000 fr. was little thought
of at the time, as it was covered by the profits realized on
the sale of the corn and flour of the reserve. In tact, it
was estimated that the quantity of flour then sold in the
markets of Paris, or delivered direct to the bakers, ur made
.
into bread for the hospitals, amounted to 91,000 sacks. The
keeping up of that reserve bad up to that time cost more than
six millions. At the end of 1831, the city also distributed bread
at a reduced price, but only to the poor. The total ex-
pense only amounted to 590,000 fr. Yet the state reim.
burred to the city a sum of 76,400 fr., and besides granted a
subvention of 1,06,1,000 fr. to establish workebups where
workmen out of occupation were received and employed.
The most important crisis, however, and that which is
still present to every one's memory, was that of 1816-1847,
when the price of bread rose to 62c. the kilogramme. We
shall enter into a few of the details on the service of the
bread tickets, then organised by the municipal administra-
tion, and on the ensemble of the expenses which the budget
of the city had to support at that period. In 1816 the object
of the administration was, as at present, not to have
the price higher than 40c. the kilogramme ter bread of
the first quality. In 1846 the necessitous classes of
Paris alone benefitted by this reduction of the tariff, whilst
at present all the inhabitants of the department of the
Seine enjoy the benefit of the reduction ordered by the
Municipal Council. The system of bread tickets com-
menced on the loth of November, 1816, and lasted until
the 15th of October, 1847. During the second fortnight of
November the administeation distributed 622,144 tickets at
12e. ; which, at the rate of 4 per head gives a number of
155,300 persons relieved, and an expense of 74,658 franca.
During the second fortnight of March, when the official
price of bread was at lir. 24c. the 4lbs. loaf, the city
relieved 456,000 persons, and expended 77,5,527 fr. in dis-
tributing to them 1,825,000 bread tickets. Each
ticket then represented a value of 44c.; a family
to which thirty tickets were given, therefore, received in
reality an assistance of 13fr. '2l)c. for 15 days. Altogether
there was a distribution of 33,231,800 during tit e. continuance
of the crisis, the average being 24fr. &ie. each. The total
expense of the tickets, including all the attendant charges,
amounted to 9,024,6990. Ole. The city bad therefore to
expend in 1847 a ram of 9,021,699 fr. 91e. in relieving for
nearly twelve months about 400,000 persons. It is to be
hoped that the crisis which is now commencing will not
lest so long, or impose such heavy sacrifices on the, city ; in
fact, if in 1847 the city, in expending a little less than
25,000 fr. a day to assist 400,000 poor, saw the amount of its
debt rise to beyond 0 millions, to what an enormous sum
will it amount now that it has to assist 1,422,000 inhabitants,
and that it now expends 12,E60fr. a day, and that in making
up only a difference of 6 centimes.

The Wonitcur, in giving an account of the celebra-
tion of the Emperor's fete in the islands of St. Pierre
and Miquelon, states that the Bishop of Newfound-
land, who was then going the circuit of his diocese,
went out of his way in order to perform divine
service at St. Pierre on the occasion. A Te Dean
followed. Tho Moniteur adduces this as an addi-
tional instance of the excellent relations subsisting
between the French colonial governments and the
authorities in the neighbouring English possessions.

The Moniteur corrects an erratum in the decree of
the 18th, relative to the importation of caoutchouc.
For "By foreign ships and . ' 10fr. the 100

and land, ..
kilogram- mes ;"—read, "By foreign ships, 10fr. the 100
kilogrammes."
M. Mery's new drama, " Guzman the Brave," the
hero of which is an ancestor of the Empress, was
produced last night at the Odeon. The Emperor
and Empress, who were expected, did not attend.
Queen Christina was present.
Letters from Tenedos of the Bth state that the
Bellerophon had arrived from the English squadron,
having on board the remainder of the sailors of the
fleet who had been attacked by the fever. The sick
men had been sent on shore to a temporary hospital
on Mount Saint Elias, one of the healthiest spots in
the island.

Baron Voirol, a general of division, an exleer of
France, and an ax-Governor-General of Algeria, died
on the 13th inst.

A man named Cornelis, suspected of being the
murderer of the two sisters Poupelle, at Arras, was
arrested on the 15th at Courtrai, in Belgium, and
lodged in the prison of that town. On the follow-
ing morning he was found dead in his cell, having
hung himself with a rope which he had made out of
the lining of his waistcoat.

HOLLAND.

THE HAGUE, SEPT. 18.

Not a little sensation has been created in Holland
by the appearance of a royal decree, conferring the
order of the Lion of the Netherlands on Monsieur
Drouin de Lhuys, the French Minister of Foreign
Affitirs. It is no secret at the Hague that the French
ambassador at the Hutch court, acting no doubt
under instructions, warmly supported the formation
of ,the Van Hall cabinet—the present one—and to
the last showed himself hostile to the Thorbecko

SErr. 10.

To day the States•Gcncral were re-opened after a
brief address by the King in person. His Majesty
said :

Gentlemen,—Again, after a short time, I see myself in
the midst of you. With pleasure I address myself to the
representatives of a people who give me the most decided
and cordial proofs of fidelity and attachment. Now that
you are going to recommence your ordinary labours, I may
repeat the assurance that I continue to entertain the most
friendly relations with the other Powers. During the last
month I have received proofs of interest which I highly
appreciate.

The pacific policy followed by government gives it every
opportunity not to neglect anything for the extension of free
commercial relations between the Netherlands and other
states.

The naval and military forces still continue to perform
their duties in a satisfactory manner, so far as their limited
means admit. Our naval forces arc seen in various sear, thus
aiding to establish our relations, and to protect our national
flag and navigation. Experience shows more and more the
necessity of extending the macseuvres and exercise of the
army, on the one hand by keeping the militia a longer time
under arms, and, on the other, by uniting the forces toge-
ther.

The position of the colonies and the government pomes-
lions in the other parts of the world is unerally satisfac-
tory. The tranquillity of the interior of the island of
Sumatra had been disturbed, but it bas been restored by
trifling efforts on the part of our forces. lu the same way,

also, we may trust that an end will soon be put to the re-
newed troubles of the Chinese in Borneo.
I deplore the frightful ravages caused by the earthquakes
and the actions of the sea in the Malacca Islands. From
the measures taken by the government, and the assistance
of the public, this calamity has been considerably lessened.
The great works undertaken for the improvement of our
principal rivers continue to be actively carried on. The
present results are highly satisfactory.
Agriculture, manufactures, and industry are in a favour-
able condition. The spirit of enterprise developer itself
more and more among the people, induciug them to give
their attention to various new enterprises, by which the
communications by sea and land will be much augmented
and which will give to agriculture new territories to cul-
tivate.

Where the general interest requires it the efforts of the
people are supported by the government.
The works for connecting the Netherlands with the
neighbouring states extend more and more.

Tha railways already conceded approach completion.
Applications for new concessions are encouraged as much
u possible.
The clectro-magnetic telegraphic line. are increased and
continually improved. The lately completed line to ling-
land, undertaken by private individuals, is of the highest
•
interest for our commerce.

In rejoicing at the great success of the magnificent enter-
pries of draining the Haarlem Lake, we may also be grati-
fied at the successful sale of the redeemed land.

So far as an opinion can be formed on the partial reports
received, the harvest can only bo reckoned upon as an
average one.

Although the uneasiness caused lately by this state of
things seems to have been somewhat exaggerated by some
people, I have, however, taken measures to suppress the
very trifhog impediments which opposed the free importa-
tion of the principal article., of food.

Commerce, navigation, and shipbuilding are all prosper-
ing this year. These branches of the public welf4re con-
tinue to increase. The finances of the country are in an
equally desirable position.
The hopes which we hod of the favourable issue of the
service of last year have not proved fallacious. We have
every reason to expect that the present service will also be
satisfactory.
Unforeseen circumstances have prevented the entire

completion of the laws for reducing taxation.
New propositions for the reduction of the National Debt
will soon be submitted to your deliberation.
This session will, as I trust, and as it is the serious de-
sire of my government that it should, afford the opportu-
nity of settling important legislative questions.

All our efforts will tend to one and the same end—to
assure by every means in our power, and with the blessing
of Divine Providence, the welfare of our dear country.

I now declare the session of the States-General to be
opened, &e.

ITALY.

The King of Sardinia arrived at Tortona on the
15th, after having witnessed the military manteuvres
executed in the vicinity of that town, under the com-
mand of the Duke of Genoa. His Majesty was re-
ceived with loud acclamations by the inhabitants.
Chevalier de Burger, the new imperial Lieutenant
of Lombardy, arrived at Milan on the 13th.
The Corriere Mercaatile of Genoa, of the 11th,
announces the arrest of a priest of that town, named
Maineri. The police also searched his lodgings very
minutely.