The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-22 00:00:00

THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE.

The substance of the following appeared in a Second
Edition of last evening's Express:
PARIS, MOND IY, 5 P.m.
The situation of Paris to-day is curious. The Bank
of France continues closed. The private bankers de-
cline to pay cheques except for 500 f., or its multiples,
that is to say, 'moor., 1,500 E, &c., inasmuch as they
have not specie, nor smaller notes to Blake up the

differences.
The money changers are most of them closed, and
the few that are open are misapplied with silver, the
stock they had before the suspension of the bank hav-
ing been exhausted. There is some gold to be had at
the rate of 2fr. per 20fr.-piece or 10 per cent. prem.
Private families and individuals in these circum-
stances, are obliged to obtain their daily supplies of
necessaries of all description on credit. There are
difficulties, however, which credit does not surmount.
For example, the poet-office ; the postage of letters
must be paid ; the post-office I need not say gives no
credit, and, indeed, is unprovided with the means of
keeping accounts.
Even gold does not extricate us from this difficulty.
The postage on any single delivery seldom amounts
to 20f., and the post-office has not the means of pay-
ing its differences in silver.
A notice is posted at the bank, that manufacturers
and others who employ operatives in large numbers,
can be accommodated with silver in limited amounts,
by special application to a board, which sits at the
Palais Royal, now called the Palais National. There
they are of course obliged to produce satisfactoryevidence
of their calling, and the bona fide nature of their
wants, so as to satisfy the committee that the silver
thus granted in exchange for bank notes is really
destined to find its way to the operatives.
On applying to our bankers to-day, as to how we
were to get on in a situation so anomalous, we were
told that we must either get on on credit, or
give cheques payable at a future day, say in ten or
twelve days hence, the amount of which must be some
exact multiple of 100 francs, inasmuch as the bank
could not pay differences in silver.
When or Low this is to end, no one seems able to
say. No explanation or excuse is offered, either
at the bank by the government, in any official form,
but it is said that the bank will require some further
time to fabricate the new 100 franc notes, and that in
issuing them they will give, if required, 10 per cent.
of the amount demanded by each claimant in silver—
in other words, that they will pay 2s. in the pound
of their obligations in specie, and will give uncon-
vertible paper for the other 90 per cent.
The following address is prefixed to the Si;c/e this
morning. It acquires peculiar interest from the cir-
curganmstance of that journal having been the recognised
o of the party in the late chamber which was
led by M. Odillon Barret. No address has hitherto
appeared from M. Odillon Barrot to the electors for
the constituent assembly:
We have received many communications and propositions
as to the formation of an electoral committee. After having
attentively examined them, without flinching from the
duties that a new state of things imposes, but on the con-
trary the better to fulfil them, we have put aside these
different proposals. The motives which have decided us
may be summed up in this: the old party
.of the opposition
is no more. Some men remain, with their previous cha-
racter, their renown, their services, but' the party. is no
more. We should think it puerile to endeavour to revive it,
and we do not mean to form another out of
its elements, which, in a time in which the
support of every good citizen is so necessary to government,
might appear, whatever might be its intention, an opposition
party. Be the constant firmness of our opinions and our con-
duct under the fallen government we have acquired the
right to speak the truth to the present one. We protest in
favour of the liberty of discussion. But this liberty, so pre
cious to us, which we have so long laboured to obtain, and
which we will preserve inviolate for the common interest,
for the honour and safety of the republic, we will use in a
spirit of concord, union, and benevolence. We would sup-
port and strengthen the power to which France has trusted
its destinies, not fetter or weaken it ; we would aid the mass
of the people, so long and so unjustly disinherited, to take
regular possession of political life, and not contest its victory
or lessen its results ; we would efface all distinctions of par-
ties and classes, enlist those new men who have faith, ardour,
mid hope, taking care not to exclude those who
have distinguished themselves by their information
and devotion. Let the practical experience of the agricul-
turist, the hidden genius of the operative, the modest merit
of the well-disposed man find a place beside those whose su-
periority, hitherto more conspicuous, hexhibited in the arts,
to literature, in the magistracy, and army. This should,
this must be. In the bosom of this national aseembly, where
a fraternal union should exist, and which will, we hop*,
agree in proclaiming the wants of our times, and will have
the most difficult problems to solve, the question is nst
to obtain the ascendant for this or that shade of
republican opinion, to obtain a greater or lees majority of
the inhabitants of the town or the country of such or such
citizens ; it is to constitute a majority strong, enlightened,
honest, and firm, resolved to maintain the republic, to de-
fend it against all aggressions, to finish and consolidate the
work of regeneration which they undertake, and also to
preserve it from all excess. and trom all staio, and cause
France to be loved for her wirth and respected for her
tues by all Europe. To this end shall all our efforts be
directed. We desire to see the idea of concord, of progress,
of order, and true liberty realised. We much prefer such a
task to working fruitlessly, after all the experience we have
had, to ensure the triumph of a party.
On the morning of the 17th, Marshal Bugeaud was
summoned before the Jur d'lnstruction of Perigueux,
to answer a series of interrogatories, in virtue of •
commission of inquiry expedited from Paris, on the
subject of the impeachment of the late ministry.
General Cavaignac, Governor of Algiers, is to succeed
General Subervic as Minister of War, and is re-
called, by telegraph, for that purpose. General
Cavaignac belongs to the party in the cabinet repre-
sented by M. Armand Marrast, mayor of Paris, which
is opposed to the revolutionary excesses of M. Ledru
Itollin. General Changernier is to be governor of
Algeria.

We hear from Sardinia that some serious disturb-
ances had taken place at Chambery in the day and
night of the 14th. Serious apprehensions were en-
tertained. Cries of " Vive la republique In and me-
naces against the King were uttered. The soldiers
have restored momentary quiet. Great agitation pre-
vailed at Turin. It was reported in Paris, on Mon-
day, that the King of Sardinia had consented to the
convocation of a constituent National Assembly, and
that he had only reserved to himself the administra-
tion of the country until the meeting of that assembly,
which was to take place without delay.
Private letters from Rome to the 9th state that
the news of the French revolution burst upon them
like a clap of thunder. This triumph of liberty has
been hailed at Rome by all classes. The carnival
has passed over quietly, the authorities having sup-
premed the moccolletti, or prootorion with lighted