The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-07 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY ETENINU, MARCH 7, 1848.

and fear much that they will tend to give rise to ar-
maments and military expenses. It is, however, no
affair of oars. As journalists, we may criticise M.
LAMAKTINeB letter; as Englishmen, we find nothing
to complain of therein; but, on the contrary, much to
admire. As to the treaties of Vienna—Prussia, Aus-
tria, and Russia, but the other day showed their utter
contempt for them by absorbing Cracow. They did
this without consulting us. And we, therefore, trust,
that they may also settle any difference, great or
I small, with France, about the frontier towards the
Rhine, without troubling us either. If the other na-
tions of Europe will fall into their old errors, we shall
sincerely regret it. Our motto, at least, must be neu-
trality and peace.

was, in

AFTER all, the cosaie predominates over the tragic
in the revolutionary drama of February. We do not
Il
allude to the conduct or fortunes of the royal fugi-
tives. No one can refuse a tribute of admiration to
the Duchess of ORLEANS, and all must rejoice that
neither bodily risk nor peril threatened or reached
her relatives. The comedy lies not in the precipi-
tancy of their escape, but in the far grea-er precipi-
tancy with which the followers of Louis PHILIPPE
have thrown themselves into the arms of the revola-
tio-iary government. The first military converts to
the republic were, indeed, the especial aides-de-camp
of the chateau. The ink was not dry upon the act of
the KING'S abdication ere Messrs. LIADIERES and
GoURGAUD sent in their names and offers of service to
the Hotel de Ville. We need not give the list of
marshals who followed the example.
The civilians emulate the men of war.
Throughout all the departments of the state there
has not been one single resignation. Not one coun-
cillor of state, not one judge, one attorney or advo-
cate-general, has budged, or refused the most un-
pleasant duties. The act of accusation against Messrs.
GUIZOT and DUCHATEL has received the signatures of
the very law officers whom they appointed, that of
the noble president, SIGUIER, included. The repub-
lican ministers have of course their friends and fol-
lowers to place; but no one seems willing to make
place for them. And the complaint of those person-
ages who have become the ministers of the emetile, is,
not that they inspire terror, or that they meet
with dissaffection, but, on the contrary, that they are
overpowered with caresses and assurances of adhesion
and affection.
If Louis PHILIPPE had an objection to monarchy
surrounded

...it'd by republican institutions, his sue,—
vect to a republic worked by monarchic function-
aries. Still never were people more anxious to avoid
giving pain than the republicans of the Pro-
visional Government. Not only have they abo-
lish% d the penalty of death and prohibited
duelling, but they shrink from inflicting the pains of
dismissal. The republican party itself, however, has
a very natural love of office; and accordingly its
members have little trouble to discover and point out
the foibles and/ilex-pas in the character and career of
each occupant of place. The new French ministers
are thus favoured with biographies of all their exist-
ing employls, which are embarrassing, as well us
amusing and instructive. This constitutes very serious
comedy—a comedic &intrigue. But in us, curious
spectators of a great revolution and its results, it
does excite laughter.
Wherever, indeed, the eye penetrates, or the at-
tention is fixed, there the comic predominates. It is
heightened by the contrast presented between that
luxurious splendour with which the functionaries of
the late government surrounded themselves, and the
very simple wants and formalities of their present I
successors. The late l'refet, M. 1)e RAMBUTEAU,
exhausted all that luxury could imagine or expense
procure on his apartments at the Hotel de Ville,
which resembled more the palace of a satrap than of I
a municipality. The Provisional Government are
now installed in them, and were at first crowded and'!
hustled by the mob from roam to room, till they were
nearly stifled in a boudoir of the late Prefet. They
have now taken better care, and only receive deputa-
tions. But these ate quite numerous and noisy and
uncouth enough to contrast with the tranquil magni-
ficence of the late occupant.
At the Luxembourg the contrasts are even greater,
M. DUPONT DE L'Eutte has established himself
in the apartments of NI. PASQUIEIt, whilst the new
governor, BARBEP, just released from ten or fifteen
years of close imprisonment, avenges himself on the
place of his trial and imprisonment. Ile has rased
the prison, thrown open the gardens, and installed
the operatives of the capital in the Chamber of Peers
to devise with M. Louis 13Lese the best rules for the
organisation du travail.
The ex-chamber of Peers was a mockery as a legis-
lative assembly. Consisting of old functionaries and
nominees of the court, it merely echoed the King's
wishes, with the exception of one or two voice!, M.
LOUIS BLANC'S wit enagemot of operatives presents
an extreme of another colour. So true it is that one
extreme produces another.
The Tuileries are the scene of a metamorphosis still
more singular. The band that took the palace
have conceived an affection for it, and have deter-
mined to keep their quarters there permanently.
Much more harm they cannot do than has been
done, in the way of destruction. And they are
allowed to lie and keep guard in the midst of the
ruins of furniture and the relics of splendour. The
Provisional Government has spent a world of coaxing to
get these fellows out; but they imitate the function-
aries of the late government, declare themselves ina-
moribles and refuse to evacuate. Many of them
accoutred in a strange assortment of original rags,
with the finery of the royal household. And the
present garrison of the '1 uileries furnishes a collec-
tion of revolutionary portraits and costumes which
passes the imagination of the caricaturist. One can
afford to be amused at the sight; for these men are
no longer the sanguinary sans-colottes of the old
revolution. There is nothing ruffianly about them,
save dirt and rags, and they seem to have foresworn
repine, violence, and war.
'fhe provisional sovereigns of this revolutionised
people displayed their majesty in public on Saturday.
They marched on foot and in line at the head of the
funeral procession of the victims of the late struggle,
and were attended by all the great bodies of the
state, the judges, the councilors, the learned of the
institutes all the notabilities, in fact, who were
wont to pay their respects at the Tuileries, came just
as ready on Sunday to attend the popular levee on
the Boulevards. It was a rich piece of comedy that
same funeral procession ; and so was each face that
figured in it. No ceremony could be colder or more
silent as long as it remained in the more genteel and
wealthy part of the town; but as it advanced through
the more populous quarters, the acclamations of the
people rose, the national guards responded with songs,
and the appearance of enthusiasm was got up. Never
was a popular ceremony so like a court one in
coldness.
The countenance and appearance of the members
of the Provisional Government, too, were scanned
much as those of the princes used to he. No one
could say but that the republic, represented by the
portly-Lei:mu ROLLIN, was of prosperous complexion.
LAMARTINE looked proud and spiritual, as one of his
own Girondins. Great interest certainly attached to
this rank of bold men who have for the moment the
fate not only of thirty millions of Frenchmen, but of
the millions of Europe besides on their hands, with
the most terrible risks before them if they fail. How-
ever comic the service, there is a deep underplot
of tragedy beneath, which, we trust, may long—
any for ever lie dormant.

Advises from Italy report that an immense excite-
ment was produced by the news from Paris, although
the actual result was still but imperfectly known, and it
was supposed that a regency was still possible. At
Turin the infantry were called to the citadel, to aid in
making cartridges. Two new contingents were called
under arms. The national guard was called out.
The Augaburgh Gazette, under date of Vienna,
Feb. 25, says: " Letters from Italy give accounts of
revolutionary scenes on all sides. Blood has flowed
at Bergamo, and disturbances have taken place at
Cremona. At the theatres the Austrian officers were
thrown from the boxes into the pit. At Placentia
several arrests took place at the theatre, all those ar-
rested had loaded pistols in their pockets."
Letters from Lombardy state that the excitement
at Pavia was very great on the arrival of the news of
the French revolution, and that the troops fraternised
with the people, who elected a provisional govern-
ment. It was also stated that the students of the
university had joined the movement, which it was
said that the Hungarian troops,. in the service of
Austria, commenced. The same accounts state that
the mercantile body in Milan unanimously refused to
take the paper money of the Vienna Bank, and to
have any connection with Trieste. The government

thrown inte the greatest em-
o."..emedt, At Venice, the imperial snuff factory
has been stopped, in consequence of the determined
refusal of the Italians to support this imperial mo-
nopoly, which brings in a large revenue.
The Sardinian Government was preparing to de-
mand of Austria the removal of her troops from
Parma, while Austria, on the other hand, was remon-
strating against the liberal measures of Sardinia.