The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-04 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVININO.
The Duke de Bauffremont was created a senator
on New Year's-day, but his name was omitted from
the official list by mistake. The new creations,
therefore, are thirty-eight. You are aware that
according to the new constitution the number of the
Senate may be increased to one hundred and fifty,
besides the cardinals, marshals, and admirals, who are
senators of right. The present number is one
hundred and sixteen. There remain, therefore,
thirty-four seats in the Senate yet to be disposed of.
One of the clauses in the decree to which 1 alluded
yesterday confers upon the Senate the right to vote
the budget of its own internal expenses, and the coat
of keeping up the Luxembourg and other build-
ings' assigned to the Senate. This was a
privilege appertaining to tho House of Peers
up to 18-113. The 3loniteur, in a semi-official
article, intended to laud the regulations published
yesterday, claims credit for the government for not
having, while conferring this privilege, exempted
the Senate from the salutary rules of accountability.
It observes that the grand referendary cannot order
any payments except out of credits specially opened
for the purpose by the Minister of Finance, and that
all moneys expended must be accounted for in regu-
lar form. 'this is all very well, but regular accounts
arc quite consistent with extravagant expenditure;
tied it is quite clear that, although the Finance
Minister is to find the money, he will have no choice
but to supply whatever sum the Senate may choose
to ask for.

A fresh peaceful declaration of Napoleon 111. ap-
pears to day, in the shape of the following note in
the Moniteur :

There have recently appeared several works, and amongst
them one calle.l .. Les Limites de la France," which appear
to have for their object to flatter tendencies which it is be-
lieved are those of the government. The government re-
jects ■ll solidarity with the authors of these works, the
spirit of which is as far from the intentions of the Emperor
as horn his openly declared policy.
It is always an unpleasing task to express doubts of
the sincerity of an apparently candid declaration.
But it is impossible on this, and all similar
occasions to sink the recollection that before the
coup iretat mysterious pamphlets were continually
launched forth, in which the events that afterwards
came to pass were darkly foreshadowed. These
writings were repeatedly repudiated on the part of
the government, and yet it is now known that they
were " feelers " systematically distributed to prepare
the public mind for what was to follow according to
a long premeditated design. The work chiefly al-
luded to in the above note argues that the natural
consequence of the restoration of the Empire should
be the extension of the frontiers of France to their
old imperial boundaries, and reproduces ideas which,
however at variance with the present professions of
the Emperor, are known not to have been foreign
to his meditations some years ago. In the
sudden appearance of pamphlets with' these
I tendencies, simultaneously in many parts of
France, there are circumstances very analogous
to those which attended the former produc-
tions. The government repudiates "solidarity'
with, but does not, and, as you will see, will not,
repress them. And yet such writings, tending as
they do to disturb the peace of the world, and to des-
troy
confidence in the professed intentions of the
French government, are infinitely more mischievous
than the socialist speculations which are every day
seized in the hawker's pack.
It is officially announced that from to-day all ap-
plications for audiences with his Majesty are to be
made to the new master of the ceremonies, the Duke
of Bassano.

His predecessor, Count Baciocchi, was responsible
for a contempt of the independent position of the
Council of the Order of Advocates, which is thus
complained of in the following letter addressed to the
Mossiteur by M. Berryer, av bitounier of the order:
Sir—The iloniteur, to placing the Council of the Order
of Advocates in the number of constituted bodies who wen
received on t3.tturday at the Tuileries, has committed an
error, which I beg you to rectify. The Order of Advocates
is neither a constituted body of public functionaries, nor a
company of ministerial officer,. The Council of the order
did not present itself on the let of January at the official
receptions, where it could not be summoned, and where no
rank could be assigned to it.
To-day the Pantheon, after having been so many
years devoted to profane uses, was solemnly re-
dedicated to religious worship as the church of St.
Genevieve. The relics of the saint—the patron
saint of Paris—which since 1830 have re-
posed the church of Notre Dame, were
removed with great pomp by the metropolitan
chapter and the canons of St. Sulpice, who marched
in procession through the streets. The great
bell of Notre Dame tolled during the transit.
The relics being deposited in their new resting place,
a grand mass was performed by the Archbishop
of Paris. A special neuraine, or nine days' prayers,
is ordered, to thank God for his benefits to the city
of Baia, granted by the intercession of St. Genevieve.
During these nine days the clergy of all the churches
in the city will come successively to chaunt before
the relics.

PARIS..SVMDAY

Some of the articles in the new decree relating to the
Senate, the Corps Legislatif, and the Council of State,
are important. A &maw Consultum proceedingg
from the initiative of the Senate cannot be discoased
in a general sitting unless it is approved by at least
three out of the five bureaux into which the Senate
is to be divided, bots drawn at the commencement
of every session. When a debate on a Saugus Con-
**ilium has once been opened, no amendment can be
proposed unless it is seconded by at least flu mem-
bers. The text of the amendment must always be
sent previous to its proposal to the commissaries of
the government. No propoul for a modification of
the constitution can be taken into consideration un-
less it is signed by at least ten senators. Petitions
addressed to the Senate are to be examined by
committees chosen every month by the bureaux. A
list of the petitions before the Senate is to be sent to
the minister of state before each monthly examination
takes place. The examining committee will make a
report to the Senate, and the matter of the petitions
may then be discussed in a general sitting, but the
only vote that can be oome to upon any question
arising on a petition is, either to pass to the order of
the day, to order the petition to be deposited in the
bureau of inquiry, or to refer it to the competent
minister. The order of the day for every sitting
of the Senate must always be sent beforehand to the
Minister of State, and the government will have the
right to be represented by councillors of state in
every debate. These government commissaries will
not be subject to any of the regulations of the
Senate with regard to speaking is turn, or not
speaking more titan once in the same debate. They
will have the right to speak when and u often as
they please. The dotation of the Senate is to be
placed in the budget next after the payments on ac-
count of the public debt, and I presume as part of
the same chapter. It will be remembered that the
Corps Legislatif refused to vote the senators' dota-
tions under that head because they considered that
to do so would be to melee the country a permanent
debtor to the Senate, even in case of a change sf
government, which might dispense with the services
of that body. These are, I think, the only points
worth noticing in the articles relating to
the Senate. An alteration of considerable importance
is made in the method of dealing with amendments
proposed by the Corps Legislatif. The amendment
must still be sent to the Council of State, for approval
or rejection, without any public discussion upon it in
the house. But the proposer of an amendment will
have the right to support it before the committee of
the house charged to examine the bill to which it
relates. Should the committee adopt the amendment
they may, if they think fit, appoint three of their
members to state the reasons for their vats to the
Council of State. This is intended to be represented
as a very liberal concession in favour of the right of
amendment, and it does to a certain extent remove one
of the objections which was much pressed in the',
course of last session, namely, the absurdity of em-'
powering the Council of State finally to reject an
amendment, while they had no means of knowing
what might have been the views of the proposer.
Some stringent rules are added to the existing ones
for maintaining order during the debates. If the
President tells any speaker hitt he is not speaking
to the question twice in the course pf the same

speech, the house is to be consulted upon the ques-
tion whether thatspeaker shall not be prohibited from
addressing the house during the remainder of the
sitting, Wrote to be taken by rising and sittingdown,
and without discussion. The same question may be
put after any member hes been ailed twice to order.
If any member called to order by name by the
.presi-
dent persists in disorderly conduct, the house is em-
powered to exclude him from the sittings for the
space of five days, and the decision may be posted
in the department for which he is member. The
previous question cannot be moved with respect
to any proposition emanating from the Em-
peror. No message or proclamation of the Em
peror can be the subject of any debate or
vote unless they contain propositions requiring
to be voted. The right of members to print their
speeches is restricted. Instead of the authorisation
of the house being, as now, sufficient for this pur-
pose, the permission of a committee is required in ad-
dition. The printing or distribution of any speech
without leave will be punished by a fine of from 500 f.
to 3,000 f. against the printer, and of from 3f. to
500 f. against the distributors. The reports of the
speeches for the newspapers, you are already aware,
will be settled privately by the President and a com-
mittee,—that is, practically by the President. In
the new rules, it is stated that this report will con-
sist of " a summary (resume) of the opinions" of each
member. This pretty clearly indicates that oppo-
sition speeches will not be reported at all, in the
proper sense of the word.