The Express.
London, England, 1851-11-25 00:00:00

FRANCE.

"primed is isrt .ear Atiipka'
of4unnicfw ,
I. PARA aIinADLT. Murat&
areati was th lavedistnbuted is the
' toths"the Lvonreciodne=tVZ. tteowoeon~ loch
The ceremony, however, was pot off in conso-
mmes, er a Arensedeue row which occurred.

at the Slackest of ita

Writs! been an eye-witness of this tumultuous
mans, shall attempt to convey to your readers a
faithful image of its features, drawn from fresh im-
pressions. Upon crossing the square leading to the
entrance of the gallery, a full hour before noon, the
tiros appointed for the commencement of the ceremony,
' I found the space in front thickly crowded with car-
' riages, pickets of the republican guard, and a dense
throng of holiday plc, all brisk and smart in the
(sunshine. Aly the spacious stone stair-
case was thickly beset with what seemed
I the elite of Paris, admitted by special
tickets. Some excla;med that it would be impossible
to get places. " Entrons tout de meme," said a
brisk, adventurous little woman, and adding, " Don-
nez-moi votre bras, Monsieur," seized, with a frank-
ness peculiarly French, the arm of her neighbour, a
complete stranger, as a " planehe de salut " in the
ap struggling column. In the Salon Cane an es-
trade was erected before the great marriage-feast of
Paolo Veronese. The whole disposable space
was occupied with long benches. The choice
positions were taken up by the diplomatic
body, high functionaries, and their female
friends. The aspect of the room, an immense hall of
cubic form, clothed with the master-pieces of Italian
art, was brilliant in the extreme. Meanwhile, the
crowd continued to press upstairs and through
the cabinet of precious objects into the Salon
Card, already full to overflowing. Punctually
at twelve the President appeared, having on his'
right the Minister of Commerce, and on his left M.
Duple, President of the Assembly. A sort of buzz
alone indicated his arrival ; there was no demonstra-
tion of any sort either in his favour or otherwise.
It seemed as if the zeal of his partisans was
quenched by the silent opposition of the par-
liamentarians. A sense as of political antagon-
ism equipoised, and conflicting ardour neutral-
ised, pervaded even this crowd assembled to
witness a ceremony by no means remarkable. But
it is felt that every public appearance and act of the
President has at this moment a significance which is
intense. and makes such occasions as that of this
morning resorted to with strange eagerness, as
if the spectator were assisting at the throes of
a political crisis, and would witness the birth of
a new era. While some such feeling held the
Assembly breathless on the tiptoe of expectation, a
fierce altercation arose at the doors. In an instant
the whole of the spectators stood up on the benches,
or attempted to do so ; and those who did not suc-
ceed, but remained as it were in the trough of the
furrow, were subjected to the rudest maltreatment ;
most of those who suffered in the struggle being of
the weaker sex, shrill screams and exclamations be-
gan to be heard from various parts. Meanwhile, the
great doors leading to the long gallery were
opened ; and it being announced that, in conse-
quence of the greater accommodation, the
ceremony would take place in the latter place, a tre-
mendous rush was made in that direction. The
fluctuation, rocking, shoving, scrambling along theme
benches, with screaming women caught between, and
trampled over in the hollows, was positively terrific.
Meanwhile the President, with his immediate suite,
had succeeded in gaining the long gallery, while the
i was comparatively clear. But presently
tl:gators were clapped to, alter a fierce struggle,
and those might be considered fortunate who had got
through in the first rush. A louder tumult than
ever ensued. All respect of persons ceased. Am-
bassadors and their jewelled ladies fared no better
in the crush than the meanest citizen. No consider-
ation for sex appeared to prevail, any more than for
rank. Such a scene of brutal struggle, violent panic,
and headlong confusion I never witnessed. I noticed
that Monseigneur Sibour, the Archbishop of Paris,
had saved himself from the wreck in a corner, where
he patiently awaited the issue of events. Im-
mense efforts were made to thrust back
the folds of the great door again, and the crowd
at length succeeded in bursting them open. The
soldiers placed at this entrance were swept from their
post like chaff before the wind. In burst the crowd,
and you heard the tramp as of thousands running
along the waxed floors, while some of those who
headed the column slid, by way of defiance to all de-
corous behaviour. By this time the President had
got a good way ahead ; but as soon as the new irrup-
tion was perceived, part of his rear-guard detached
themselves, to make a stand against the on-
rushing impetuous column. Edgar Ney and
the Chevalier Nieuwcrkerke, director of the
Louvre, were seen with their arms wide-extended

walking towards the people, and entreating them to
keep back. This produced a momentary pause; but
the pressure from behind soon drove back and dis-
persed the expostulating functionaries. The tumult,
as to noise at least, now became none in the gallery
than it had been in the ...Edon Carre. The screams
of the women were appalling. As in those streets
which are traversed by droves of oxen, passers-by
take shelter within a sort of pens constructed for this
purpose, those who could sought relief from the pres-
sure of the dense forward-rolling crowd within
the railing, which guards the pictures. One
or two of us taking advantage of a large
table borne by servants through the press,
amid a guard of soldiers, got under it for shelter,
and were thus carried along to the end of tho gal-
lery. Edgar Ney now attempted to address the
crowd, but the wild uproar drowned all
articulate sound. In vain he gesticulated to
procure a hearing. At length, the Presi-
dent, who showed throughout the greatest pre-
sence of mind, mounting on a table made signs that
he would speak. By degrees the tumult be-
came hushed. Ho then proceeded to say
that in consequence of the unfortunate con-
fusion which had occurred from the excessive
crowd, it was found impracticable to proceed with
the intended ceremony, and that this would therefore
bo deferred until to-morrow. This announce-

went having been made, flew with telegraphic
speed back through the thronging spectators;
and gradually a rearward movement commenced,
until the rooms were ultimately cleared. Tho
number of people admitted are estimated by the
tickets received at 10,000.

In the sitting of the Assembl yesterday, after
some 60 clauses of the Communal Electoral Bill had
been got through in about three quarters of an hour, a
curious incident occurred. An amendment of Gen.
Gmainiont, by which a fiae of from 5 to 15 francs
was to be imposed upon every elector who should
atataiu from voting without reasonable cause, was
carried by mistake, owing to the sheer inattention of
the house to what was going ea. Upoa the remark
of General Lamoriciere that than had been a sur-
prise, the President, M. Dupla, ropeeed to pat the
question again. This was the signal he uprose. no
Mountain, weary of ascent in which theyv mearding to
their present tactics, had resolved to be wee plume
spectators, insisted for the mere fan of the War that
General Grammones propmition had bona defti
tively carried. M. Dupin attempted to read the
standing orders, but was so frequently and violently
interrupted that he dashed the book down in despair.
I He scolded all sides of the house in turn, declared
that he was physically worn out, threatened to re- I,
sign, and at length exclaimed, " Mallteurenx pays de
I France, va! Vous donnez un beau spectacle an pays?'
At length a serious division upon General Oran-
wont's proposition was taken, and it was thrown oat
by an immense majority.
MONDAY ETINING.
It was expected that there would take place in
the sitting of the Assembly to-day an interpcllation
on the article of M. Grapier de Camagnac in the
Constitutionnel, which is described at full length be-
low. M. Dupin once interrupted the debate
on the Lyons Railway, to state that 1141. Creton had
I laid on the table a demand for interpellating the
government ; but the Assembly voted that the de-
bate on the Lyons Railway should be proceeded with.
M. Creton, it was said, would formally demand that
M. de Cassagnae should be tried at the bar of the
Assembly.
The Committee on the Council of State's Bill met
to-day to constitute itselL Berryer was chosen pre-
sident, and Monet secretary. The discussion of ur-
ge,ney proposed by Pascal buprat was adjourned till
ednesday.

• assembly commenced its sitting to-day with;
the the Lyons Railway. The only ion-
ofr this was the stateailint by 24.'La-
ails* ' the iaproved offers by the tompany.of
Locke others, which I described yestoday. The
debate was continued amid the general inattention of
the 'yes' pre-occupied with the critical
state d the 'political situation, and especially with the
article of the Cosislitulionnel.
M. Dufaure supported the proposition of the com-
mittee, of which-he-was the reporter, namely, that
the line to Lyotil should be continued provisionally
at the expense of the state. F. Martin (du Loiret)
1-opposed the system of concessionto a company.
The sole object of attention in political circles to-
day has been the article of M. Granter de Cann-
oac in the Constitutionnel. A fall of 93 centimes at
the Bourse was attributed to this cause. The recip-
rocal accusations of the two powers, each of which
charges the other with conspiracy, cause an appre-
hension that before long there cannot fail, on one
side or the other, to be an open appeal to force.
Which power will take the initiative appears doubt-
ful. But there is no doubt that if a well attested
case of the parliamentarians tampering with the
army could be brought forward, the executive would
not hesitate to order the arrest of all delinquents
detected in such practices.
The event of the day, as I have intimated, is an
article from the pen of M. Granier do Cassagnac,
which corers the first page of the Connitationnel
with an attack of unprecedented vehemence against
the Assembly. Never was there a more vigorous
denunciation of conspiracy, a severer chastisement
of faction, or a more audacious defiance of an
intriguing parliament. The declarations con-
tained in this article are so important that it
is necessary to repeat their substance here.
In the first place, it affirms as positive facts,
rumours which appeared almost incredible, as to
I the imminent eruption of armed aggression on
the part of the parliamentary conspirators in case
they had carried the Questors' Bill. " Last Mon-
day," says Cassagnac, " We were within a hair's-
breadth of gun-shot and civil war. The parties who
grasp at power had thrown into the Assembly a
proposition, which aimed less at providing the le-
gislature with an army, than at promoting indecision
and disorder among the troops, and furn'shing an
audacious general with the occasion and the means
of gaining over a regiment. If the Assembly had
had the weakness only to take into consideration the
proposition laid before it, a bill of attainder would
have been snatched from it. The conspirators had
prepared their coup-de-main. Armed with a
vote more or less explicit, they would
have arrested the ministers in full sitting,
and if this beginning had been successful they would
immediately have attempted to carry off the Presi-
dent. But, as it may be readily supposed, the Pre-
sident and his friends are by no means disposed to
allow themselves to be kidnapped. The aggressors
would therefore have been received with rounds of
musquetry, or better still; and fighting would have
commenced immediately in the streets. his result
was possible up to half-past seven, when it was de-
feated by the vote of the Assembly. This is nothing
but pure truth; and everyone in the political world,
is acquainted with the details. This flagrant, un-
ceasing conspiracy against the President of the He-
public was organised so long ago as eighteen months. 1
At that time the well-known general who occupied
the Tuileries held in his rooms •nectings of leading
political men, where the question was debated of
arresting Louis Napoleon, and committing
him to Vincennes. A former prime minister
of Louis Philippe (Mole, presumably) warned
the President of the plot hatching against him."
M. Cassit,guac, after showing that if the As-
sembly had succeeded in making Changarnier dic-
tator, and in getting the army to support him, the
first act of the new potentate would have been to
tread out and kill the origin of his power, proceeds
thus vigorously to characterise the parliamentary
cabal Thus, four or five old ministers, ten or
twelve old deputies, grown grey in harness, men
who ought to be ripe in sense as in vears, play, and
would fain make the Assembly pliv, the game of
replacing at the head of society the elect of six mil-
lion of citizens by the elect of fifteen or twenty
conspirators—the nephew of the Emperor,hy a gene-
ral without feats of arms or fame; a magical name
by a powerless one ; a regular, honest power, which
defends society, by an irregular, revolutionary power,
which undermines anddistuitsit." This extravagant
scheme, which was brought to itsextreme issueon Mon-
day evening, failed, because it would have ended in es-
tablishing a "dictature blanche," or royalist dictator-
ship. When the Mountain saw that their vote in
favour of the Questors' Bill would have given them
for master their scourge of the 13th of June, they re-
jected it to a man, while M. Baze was ready to lay
on the table a proposition for the impeachment of
General St. Arnaud, and the impatient conspirators
were crying out behind the ministerial bench, "All,
all ; they must all ho arrested on the spot." No
sooner was their scheme defeated than they skulked
about, not daring to sleep in their own beds; until
they took heart to hatch a new plot, namely, to set
up General Cavaignac instead of Changarnier, and
thus establish a " red dictatorship" instead of a
" white." For this purpose they drew from
the shelves of the cot:Neil d'etat the bill on
the responsibility of the President. M. Cassag-
nac proceeds to examine the heterogeneous composi-
tion of the committee appointed to report on this
bill, and to exhibit the contradictions of the parties
which coalesce in favour of its enactment. He ex-
hibits with merciless incision, poignant sarcasm, and
rude invective, the contemptible tricks and base
shuffling, the shameless abandonment of principle,
the treacherous alliances and rancorous schisms of the
leaders of old parties; and infers the imminent chas-
tisement to be visited by France upon these degraders
of the representative system. But the most impor-
tant feature in this article is its close:

Suppose (says M. Cassagnacl that the coalition should re-
sume, a. has been given out in the bureaux, the Questor.' Bill,
as an appendage to that of the Council of State, and should
obtain in its favour as large a majority as that by which it
was rejected. In this case we say that order and the President
will run no danger, for who would dare to guarantee that
the Assembly would be obeyed. Notwithstanding the in-
contestable truth of the general principle, that the law
ought to be obeyed, there are instances in which an ex-
treme u.c of extreme rights has occasioned resistance to
the most legitimate powers, which has ended in a collision,
a catastrophe. The Assembly, at present having; no) au-
thority above it, may vote the Queators' Bill, the law
on the President's responsibility, or anything else it pleases;
but a. these measures would be a manifest aggression
against the Presid. rat, as they would become an instrumeat
for the passions and interests of the old parties, public mo-
rality would be offended; the good sense and equity of the
country would side with the appraised against the oppressors;
and the Assembly, notwithstanding its rights and pre-
rogatives, would only arrive at a betas. Now, battles
habent awn jean; and, if the Assembly, in order to deliver
It. battle, assumed the sword of that general who is, as it
in maid, accustomed to conquer, few pesphs perhaps would
figure in its battalions. The conspirators are therefore not
dangerous. The executive power is well informed of their
designs, and although they feel it not, they have, every one
of them, the firm and :isolate hand of justice always within
an inch of their collars.

After an apostrophe, seasoned with the bitterest
personalities, M. Cassagnac winds up with a warn-
ing, that the conspirators, blinded by their passions,
like the bull by the red flag, will rush with stooped
head upon the point of the extended and motionless
sword which awaits them.

The Muniteur contains the decree appointing M.
Casabianca Minister of Finance, in the place of M.
Blondel, who declines office. M. Lefebvre-Durufle,
representative, is appointed Minister of Agriculture
and Commerce, in the place of M. Casabianea. M.
Lefebvre-Durufle', the new Minister of Commerce and
Agriculture, is representative of the Eure, where his
importance as a manufacturer, moderation as a
politician, and popularity with the working
classes, procured him a large majority at the
elections of May, 1849, for his return to
the Legislative Assembly. lie is a leading member
of the Club of the Pyramids, and during the
conflict between the powers has always promoted
conciliation. The new minister is, therefore, in all
respects a choice to be approved, being neither
Ely.kan nor of the opposite faction, and specially
qualified as a member of the Assembly and manufac-
turer, to treat in parliament the interests of his offi-
cial department.
At the Bourse the Fives fell 95c., closing at 90.75,
and the Threes fell 60c. and closed at 56.

THE MARELESONE MURDER.--Last evening Mr.
Wakley concluded en inquest on the body of Louisa Bare,
the farts of whose death have been reported from time to
time, m they have been revealed, and form to day the
'abject of one of our police reports. At the clam of the
inquiry, thP jury returned a verdict of wilful murder spinet
Thom. Bare,

;'SPAIN.

BIALIAIII, /WV. W.
A grand ball is given this evening by Maria-
Christina, °alto eeetudon of the fête of the Queen
her daughter.. Nimes is expected to-night; and
Istnritt at the 44 of the week. The Chamber of
Deputies will continue to discuss to-morrow the bill
on the Bank of St. Ferdinand.
No Boles to-day on account of the Queen's fete.