The Express.
London, England, 1853-04-27 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUESDAY EVENING.
The Monitcur announces the exchange yesterday
of the ratification of a convention between France,
Belgium, and Prussia, on the subject of correspon-
dence by electric telegraph. The convention was
signed on the 4th October, 1852, and will enter into
vigour on the Ist of May next.
At the ball at the Tuileries last night the Empress
was not present, and the Emperor returned to his
private apartments at a very early hour. The Mo-
nsieur says this morning that the Empress was de-
tained in her rooms by a slight indisposition.
During the day it rum been reported that her Ma-
jesty was suffering from the consequences of having
taken a bath too warm. This evening, however,
rumour asserts that her Majesty's indisposition is of
such a nature as to put an end for the present to the
hopes that were entertained of an heir to the empire.
The Empress has just given 6,000 fr. for the founda-
tion of an alms-house for the poor at Bareges
(Hatites-Pyrenees).
The Moniteur publishes a report to the Emperor
by General de Goyon, an extraordinary commissioner,
appointed to consider the cases of various political
prisoners, whose claims to his Majesty's merciful
consideration were from different causes not decided
upon by the commissioners sent into the departments
some time since. General Goyon announces that he
met with many repentant spirts, but he cannot con-
ceal the fact that he also found a large number of
the prisoners extremely obdurate, and wholly
inaccessible to his arguments. The propor-
tion of these was in truth very large, for it appears
that out of 596 political prisoners he only found 247
willing to sue for pardon. Of these he recommended
93 for absolute pardons and 154 for commutations.
The others are to suffer the utmost rigour of their
sentences. The General, in conclusion, somewhat
bluntly asks that his extraordinary commission may
be cancelled, as no longer having any object.
People had nearly left off talking about the Pope's
coming to France for the coronation, but now a reli-
gious journal, the Trois de la Veriti, affirms positively
that he will come, and calls upon the clergy to rejoice
at the announcement. I believe, however, notwith-
standing the name of the journal, that this
hardy assertion will turn out to be a ;canard.
The provincial council of Amiens, the acts of which
have just been brought from Rome, duly approved
by Monseigneur de Stain* the bishop of that
diocese, is the only council that has hitherto been
held in 1853. It is the second holden in the jr-
vince of Rheims since the re-establishment of provin-
cial councils, the first having been held in the city of
Rheims in 1850. All the other metropolitans of
France have hitherto refrained from convening the
councils, and it is more than probable that few, if any,
will be convoked this year. This is a very remark-
able fact, as showing the disposition that prevails in
the bulk of the clergy to preserve their Gallican in-
dependence. The first provincial council that
assembled after the revival of the institu-
tion, that of Paris, set the example of not
promulgating its acts until they had been sub-
mitted to the Pope's approbation, and of accepting all
the emendations demanded by Rome. The Arch-
bishop of Paris, it is said, intended at first to publish
the acts of the council in their original state, accom-
panied by the Pope's corrections in a separate co-
lumn, and thought by this plan to combine a certain
recognition of the special privileges of particular
churches with a due hierarchies', deference to Rome.
His suffragans, however, induced him to give way,
and to publish the acts as co rrected, so that it be-
came impossible for the ptiolic to distinguish the
work of their own clergy from that of the head of
the Romish church. The, French episcopacy now
perceives that this concession implies the
total abandonment of all liberty, the prac-
tical renunciation of all " customary " rights
which Rome may not chooso to approve of. It

is evident, therefore, that the mare councils are held,
the more thorny questions will be mooted, and the
more will the ultramontane party gaiu ground upon
their Galilean adversaries. Hence the general deter-
mination to oppose a ris ineeier to papal encroach-
oents, and to abstain from convoking councils. It
may perhaps not be gc ucrally known that in point of
strictness in religious observances !he Galikens are
much more rigorous than the ultratnontaniets. The
only great practical result of the council of Amiensyet
made known is that the faithful in the province of
Rheims are to be allowed to cat meat on Saturdays,
which indulgence is an abomination to your true Galil-
ean. Another innovation of a more abstract kind, but
in a similar spirit of liberality, or as some rather say
laxity, is also spoken of. The severe Gallican holds
it to be essential that players should be excommuni-
cated as of old, but the council of Amiens, with the
approbation of Rome, is of opinion that this French
" caustume " will now be more honoured in the
breach than the observance. It is curious to observe
in this contrast how the sturdy Gallivan, out of his
comparatively honest and simple faith, maintains in
the name of liberty tenets which revolt by their
bigotry and intolerance, while Rome, more cunning,
courts popularity, the better to reconcile men's minds
to that universal dominion which is its only unchang-
ing principle.
A telegraphic despatch fro= Cherbourg announces
that the Phlegeton, 400 horse screw steam-corvette,
was launched there yesterday morning in presence
of a great assemblage of persons.
A French ship, called the Empereur du Bresil,
arrived yesterday morning in the port of Havre, and
immediately the police went on board, and prevented
any of the passengers from leaving her. The crew,
however, were allowed to go on shore ; but no com-
munication between her and the shore was per-
mitted. The cause of these measures is not known.
At the Bourse to-day the amount of business trans-
acted was not extensive, with a downward tendency
in prices, the Three per Cents. and the Four-and-a-
Half per Cents., for cash, having each declined 15c.
on yesterday's quotations, the final prices being,
Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 103 f. 40c. ; Three per
Cents., 80f. 30e. Bank Stock, 2,730 f,
There has also been a general decline in the prices
of railway securities. In Paris and Strasbourg shares
to the extent of Of. 50e., and in the remaining lines
generally of from lf. 50e. ;to 3f. each. Parts and
Rouen shares attained an advance of 2f. 50e. at the
conclusion of business. Closing prices :—Northerns,
915 f.; Orleans, 1,050 f.; Paris and Strashourgs,
875 f.; Paris and Lyons, 947 f.; Paris and Rouen,
1,135 f.; Western of France, 783 f.; Bordeaux and
Cette, 650 f.