The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-09 00:00:00

FRANCE.
PARIS, TUESDAY EVENING.
To-day the Siecle received a " warning," in con-
sequence of an article deemed offensive to the go-
vernment.

A decree in this morning's Moniteur announces
that Chinese crapes, imported from the British do-
minions, will no longer be subjected to thu restrictive
ordinance of 1826.

In the !sitting of the Germanic Diet, on the sth
instant, the reinforcement of the federal military
service was negatived.
liThe suppression of the inspectors-general and ape
cial of police in the departments has been considered
as one of the first steps towards the suppression of
the departmeut of police itself. It seems to be
doubtful whether the ministr7 of police will be
abolished, though certain modifications may be made
in the manner of working its machinery; and in any
case no changes of any importance will probably be
made until after the report of the Commission of
Inspection.
In consequence of the changes that have been re-
cently made in the Ministry of the Interior, and
which were noted at the time, that department has
not yet got into its regular course of business. Con-
siderable changes are about to be made amongst the
sub-prefects ; some are to be removed altogether, and
others merely transferred from one place to another.
It may be easily supposed that the place-hunters arc
on the alert.

Among the rumours of the day is one which says
that the Empress Eugenie is in an " interesting
state." The rumour has not yet, I believe, found its
way into the papers, but it is currently spoken of
among those whu are familiar with the people of the
court.

It is said that letters have been received here
within the last two days from Vienna which speak
rather discouragingly of the effects of the Emperor's
wound. In these letters it is stated that the sur-
geons were not at first aware of the extent of the
hurt, and apprehensions are expressed that not only
the optic nerves, but that the spinal marrow, has
been injured. It is not said that the Emperor's
bodily strength will not be re-established, but it is
feared that his intellect has been, and will be, se-
rious'y affected. The telegraphic despatches, however,
speak of his daily improving health, and one of them
states that the Emperor, having been informed that
the mother of the assassin Libenv had been dis-
missed from a situation that she held in a family in
one of the provinces, on account of the crime of her
son, has settled upon her a pension for life.
A trifling improvement was observable on the
Bourse to-day in the prices of the Bentes generally,
for the end of the month, as compared with yester-
day; but there was no substantial advance in the
cash quotations of any description. The Four-and-
a-Half per Cents., which closed yesterday at
104 f. 70c., left off at 105 E for the settlement ; while
the closing price of the same stock yesterday for cash
I was 106 f. 50c., and to-day 104 f. 70c. The Three
per Cents. also were reported 15c. better for the ac-
count, being last called at 81f. Bank Stock closed at
12,760 francs, which marked a further decline of Of.
There was nothing of importance transacted in rail-
way stocks to-day.
PARIS, Moslems Eve:ciao.
The long-pending question of the forfeiture of
their caution money by the railway companies that
failed to fulfil their engagements in 1847, is defini-
tively settled to-day by a decree in the .illoniteur,
which I have already mentioned, unless in-
deed the companies should prefer the hopeless
chance of litigation to the offer now made them
by the government. The decree, after reciting that
the caution-money of 1,500,000 f. deposited by the
company of tke railway from Fampoux to line-
brouck ; of 10,000,000 f. deposited by the company
of the railway from Lyons to Avignon; and of
11,000,000 f. deposited by the company of the rail-
way from Bordeaux to Cette, were declared, on the
21st of February, 1848, forfeited to the govern-
ment for the non-fulfilment of engagements by
the companies; and after stating that " the
said forfeiture provided for bv the cakiers des
charges was in conformity with law, but that,
as regards equity, and for the sake of public
credit, it is necessery to moderate the rigour of it "
enacts that the .Minister:of Finance shall, by way of a
compromise, be authorised to restore to the said com-
panies, the half of the capital of their respective de-
posits. The decree allows interested parties three
months to decide whether they will take advantage
of this measure, on condition of desisting from all ex-
isting pretensions and proceedings relative to the
caution money ; and it declares that the portions of
the caution money not restored shall be definitively
acquired to the public treasury, and be entered as
receipts in the budget of the present year.
I have heard that some of the Bordeaux and Cette
shareholders are disappointed, and talk of prosecuting
before the Council of State an appeal yet pending
against the decision of the Council General of the
Haute Garonne rejecting their claims in tote. The
general feeling on the Bourse to-day was, however,
that the half of their money was an unexpected
Godsend; and this is proved by the considerable rise
which took place in shares of these defunct companies.
An extraordinary sensation has been created in
political circles to-day by the news that a field officer
of the staff, of high standing, has been arrested under
circumstances of a most painful nature. The fact is
beyond doubt that Colonel de Sercey of the staff, the
son of the well-known Admiral de Sercey, is at this
moment in the prison of the Abbaye, and it is under-
stood that he is about to be called upon to explain his
conduct in a pecuniary transaction before a military
court of inquiry. The current story is this:—Some
time since Colonel de Sercey harrowed a sum of
150,000 francs from M. Achilli Morisseau, a former
editor of the Assembled!: Nationale, upon the repre-
sentation that he wanted the money to invest in a
lucrative commercial undertaking. He offered the
name of Marshal Prince Jerome Bonaparte as a
surety for the repayment of the loan. M. Moris-
seau was so satisfied with the statement made
to him that he advanced the large sum
required. Ile time fixed for the repayment
has long since elapsed, and M. Morisseau now openly
asserts that Colonel de Sercey never had in contem-
plation any such undertaking as he spoke of, that he
wanted the money to relieve himself and a friend
from embarrassment, and that in short he obtained it
under false pretences. It is not to be supposed that
Prince Jerome could have assumed the legal liability
of a surety, for if he had of course the money would
have been paid on the first demand ; but it is un-
doubtedly part of M. Morisseau's charge, that he
made the advance under the impression that the credit
of the ex-King of Wurtemberg was part of his secu-
rity. In this state of things, Colonel de Sercey was
engaged to be married to a daughter of Madame
Murat, the widow of the Murat who acquired some
notoriety as a deputy under Louis Philippe. M.
Morissean, finding it impossible to obtain his rights
as a creditor, caused his wrongs to be mentioned to
the lady's family, and applied to Colonel de Sercey
a term too harsh to be repeated. In consequence
of this insult he received a challenge, to which his
answer was that until Colonel de Sercey had paid the
150,0001. in full, he would not recognise him as a per-
son entitled to appeal to the laws of honour. Colonel
de Sercey being thus unable to obtain satisfaction by
the pistol, took the not uncommon course ip such
circumstances of resorting to a cudgel. Ile waylaid
M. Murisseau, and as the latter, accompanied by his
wife, was entering his house, No. 50, Rue Buse du
Rempasit, at about half-past seven in the evening, he
struck a blow at him, which fortunately only hit the
door-post. M. Morisseau, thus driven to extremities,
applied in the first place to the Prefect of Police to
protect his person, and in the next laid a full state-
ment of his case before Marshal Magnan, as Com-
mander-in-Chief of the army of Paris. lam given
to understand that Marshal Magnan attempted to I
dissuade M. Morisseau from prosecuting the affair,
on account of the great scandal it would occa-
sion ; but, ultimately, M. Moriaseau persisting, the
Marshal said he could not do otherwise than
sift the matter to the bottom, and the arrest of Col,
de Sercey followed this determination. Captaia Plee,
who has long filled the functions of judge-advocate
before courts-martial in Paris, is ordered to investi-
gate the affair.
Monseigneur Mathias, the Archbishop of Avignon,
has pronounced in favour of the Univers, Mean-
while the religious war rages as hotly as ever. The
Archbishop of Paris has appealed to Rome against
the last pastoral letter of the Bishop of Moulen.
A telegraphic despatch from Toulon states that
Generals de Gastee and D just
embarked Montauban have
embarked for Civita Vecchia with orders to proceed
I to Rome.