The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-12 00:00:00

FRANCE.

',Ants, THURSDAY EVENING.
The Cimstitutionnel has a smart attack upon par-
liamentary government in general, and Lord John
Hassell and Lord Clarendon in particular, apropos
of the Eastern question. The cautious language
of those ministers in reference to a piece of news
which the government journals hero aro instructed
to accept without reserve does not suit the purpose
of those parties whose sole object is to write up the
Bourse, and paint everything couleur de rose for
the fetes of August lath. According to the Condi-
tutionnel Lord Clarendon merely showed his ignor-
ance in tuliiing about what the conference of Vienna
might do hereatter,becauseeverythingis done already,
and Lord John I teasel l's statement that there were t wo
notes sent from Vienna to St. Petersburg, is conclu-
sively answered by the Grand Cross given to M.
prouyn de Lhuys. When the Conseitsitionnei pro.
fe*es to give the English Lords and Commons in-
timation upon a matter of fact, which the English

cabinet either withhold or misrepresents, it is entitled
to a hearing, and 1 therefore send you the article in
full :

There is something really marvellous in the parliamentary
r.-yitere. Members of parli meat to k a great deal, it is
tru, but often to say nothing. Mote—the more they seeds,
the less is understood, the less information is imparted. Thus
we defy the most sagacious and elvar•ighte .1 to explain to
themselvesthe langu ige of Lord Julie. It msell in the House of
Commons, and the speech of Lord Clarendon in the house
of Lords. It 11 naively " imagined in Paris that the
interpellations announced in the English ',aliment would
be the development stud explanation of the telegraphic
despatch in the ilmiiteur of Sunday last. But now that
the public has a full report of these interpellations, it is
somewhat less advanced than before, in the knowledge of
the real state of affairs in the East. We know not whetl.er the
cabinet of Louden has taken the commerce of the city for
, another (Minus, and whether, like a new sphinx, it has
proposed to itself to give a riddle to be guessed. But it
has at all events succeeded in ruaking such a tangled web
of the Eastern question, that it wou!il be difficult to sepa-
rate the threaus, were we not to call to our aid common
sense, happily 1211 obscure than the language of parliamen-
tary oracles. And moreover public opinion iu France has
now for its guide in the field of conjecture the imperial de-
cree elevating the Minister of Foreign Aff des to the dignity
of a Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, in con-
; sideration of his eminent services rendered to the
country in the direction of diplomatic affairs. This
is a justly merited distinction, and one that will be ap-
plauded without reserve by all the friends of European
peace and national honour. But certainly nothing can
better demonstrate that the g ivernment considers the
E 'stern question settled. However, the ministers of the
Queen of England were singularly obscure upon the sub-
ject last M .nday in both houses of parliament.

Here follows a translation of the debate. The
article theta goes on :

It is impossible to see in the silence and the reserve of
Lord John Russell sal Lord Clarendon anything else
than a piece of tactics produced by the necessities
of the parliamentary reginh,. We arc even of opinion that
in the laoguag•• of both one and the other, inexactitudes
and contradictions, inevitable in replirs made on the instant
to unexpected questions, could be pointed out. Thus, when
Lord Clarendon says that nothing will be coeclutled at
Vienna without the adhesion of the governments of France
and England, evidently ho tares into a question of the
future an act already accomplished. Nothing has, in tact,
been done in Austria without the +went or the cabinets of
Paris and London. But that assent no lor,ger to be given
—it is accorded to the conventions of the congress of
Vienna, and the more so, that it was the notes originally
drawn up by the two cabinets which served as the basis
of these same conventions. Lord J. Russell, on his part,
expressed himself incorrectly when he spoke of two notes
from Vienna, saying that the despatch of August 3, dated
from St. Petersburg, applied to the first and not to the se-
cond. There are not two notes from Vienna. There was a pro-
posal from Constantinople, which was set aside, and a pro-
posal from Vienna, concerted between France, England,
Prussia, and Austria. It is to this last propiral that the ex•
change of despatches now going on between St. Petersburg
and Vienna refers. That of the 3rd, which announces the
adhesion of the Emperor of Rusia, relates to this project,
which stands alone. Only, a confsnion has hitherto existed
between the general sense and the complete text of this note,
and it is that confusion which, in the English
Parliament, ha obscured anew, though without
cause, the Eastern question. This is the way in which
the facts took place :—On July 24, the representatives of the
four great Western powers had a conference at Views', in
which they decided on the conditions of arrangement to
be proposed to Russia. The result of that conference and
the sense of the arrangement were communicated to the
ea4net of St. Petersburg by a courier, who set out the next
morning, and it is on that communication that the Empe•
rue of Russia declared on August 3, that he adhered
to the note of Vitona. Thus, although it is true that
the complete test of this note only left on the 2nd of
August for St. Petersburg, it is not the lees certain that
the adhesion of the Emperor Nicholas to the conditions
of arrangement concerted at Vienna betseen t: e four
great Western powers is now ensured. There is conse-
quently no doubt to be raised either on the veracity or the
character of the telegraphic dispatch published by the
3/oniteur on Sunday.

The above article is signed Atnedee do Cesena.
I understand that the monthly accounts of the
Bank of France, which will appear in the Moniteur
to-morrow, show a further increase in the discounts,

to the extent of five millions.
The market fur public securities has been dull to-
day, yet prices of Hordes were steady at the close of
business. The Three per Cents. for cash and for
the account have advanced, the former 30c. and the
latter 35c. The Four-and-a-Half per Cents., how-
ever, were not so firm, having given way 10c. for
cash, and only maintained the precious day's quota-
tions for the account. No change has taken place in
the value of Bank Stock. The following are the
closing prices : Fur cash : Three per Cents., SOL 10c. ;
Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 104 f. 30c. For the
account : Three per Cents., 80f. 25c. ; Four-and-
a-Half per Cents., 104 f. 40c. Bank Stock, 2,835 E
Northern', 8931. • I'aris and Orleans, 1,217 E ;
Paris and Strasbourg, 9SOf. 25c.; Yaris and
Lyons, 061 f. ; Paris and Rouen. 1,104 f. tiOc. ;
Lyons to the Mediterranean, 782 f.; Western of
France, 760 f. .50c.