The Express.
London, England, 1851-11-17 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 17. 15151.

have paid the fine imposed as a punishment for the
inferences the Treasury drew from their admission
and hare even whilst repudiating their accumey
availed themselves of the withdrawal of the 'prose-
cutions, is one of those disagreeable embarrassments
that so ability can.explein away.
Good faith has hitherto been the Fire-eminent din-'.
tinction of British merchants; hitherto it has been
their pride to boast that their word is as good as
their bood*• and between each other an implied en-
gagement has been held as sacred as an express pro-
mise. How, in this case, hare the directors of the
London Docks kept faith with Mr. MITCHELL, the
parliamentary exponent of Customs obstructions on
commerce? How with the City committee, appointed
to aid in that investigation which this very company
prayed the House of Commons to institute? How
with the St. Katherine's Dock Company? Granting
chat they were under no obligation to consult the
public, or to wait until parliament re-assembled;
nay, going further, and (immorally) admitting that
men embarked with others in a public cause are at
liberty clandestinely to withdmw from,o.‘n when their
withdrawal amounts to a betrayal of it; conceding
all this (which no honourable person would think of
doing), the directors of the London Docks had con-
tracted express, precise, formal obligations as to the
conduct to be pursued in these cases—first with
Mr. MITCHELL, as chairman of the Commons Com-
mittee; secondly, with Mr. ToOKE (durum et vent-
rabile nomen),as representative of the St. Katherine's
Dock Company—and those obligations have, we
speak it advisedly, been violated. If, in saying so,
we are wrong, we are open to correction ; if corrected
on just grounds, unlike the Treasury, we will con-
fess our error. Already rumour speaks of a remark-
able correspondence on this part of the subject, and
it cannot long be withheld from the expectant City.
When it does appear, the Treasury will
learn what the merchants of London think of
this scandal, and what some of them plainly
say of it. And when the Printer of the House
of Commons chooses to issue a further portion of the
evidence taken by the Customs Committee of last
session, we shall be able to let the public know
what the chairman and secretary once thought of
the Customs department to which they. have now
succumbed. Meanwhile there is talk in the City
of a public meeting and of a subscription to assist
. the St. Katherine s Dock Company to defend the
interests of trade and commerce in the information
P filed by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL against that Com-
pany, of which, the Treasury-informed Globe states,
, notice of trial has already been given for Hilary
. Term.
Nor, to all appearance, will this be the only
, reward which the St. Katherine's Dock Company
may look forward to in return for services it has
now an opportunity of rendering commerce, by doing
, battle against the tyranny and trickery of the
Customs. It will reap au ample and more sub-
. stantial additional recompense, in the increased pa-
; tronage and confidence of the mercantile community,
L whose feeliegs and spirit have been so deeply
wounded by the treachery of its competitor.

maintninettehat the government was empowered by
the law to send a oommlssary of police to all public
meetings, whether electoral or otherwise. He pro-
tested against the words of M. Lagrange, and
affirmed that the government would cause with
ene_rgy the law to be obeyed, even the law
,of May 31, if it should be maintained by the Assem-
bly. This assertion was met with violent exclama-
tions from the Left. M. Madier de Moir main-
tained that the government had not the ri t claimed
by the Minister of the Interior. He t en entered
into a metaphysical disquisition, from which he in-
ferred that an unjust law is not entitled to obedi •
ence. The President of the Assembly here warned
the speaker that if he continued to attack the majesty
of the laws, he should call him to order. M. de
Montjan maintained that the people had the right to
judge thelaw. Having been called to order, he declared
that he meant only to say that the people judged the
law daring the elections. The call to order was then
withdrawn. M. tie Montjaa terminated his speech
abruptly by saying that he, in common with 200
other representatives, subscribed to the declarations
of M. Charles Lagrange.
The Assembly set aside the interpellations by voting
the order of the day.
M. Vitet then proceeded to read his report on the
proposition of the questors. Ho began by stating
that the committee disclaimed altogether the motives
attributed generally to the authors of this bill, as
an aggressive step against the executive power.
It was merely intended to regulate and clearly de-
fine a right which did incontestibly exist. An ob-
jection had been made that the decree promulgated
on this subject by the Constituent Assembly applied
only to a constituent and not to a legislative assem-
bly. But the fact was, that the decree, although
proposed in May, had not been adopted until after
the 20th of December, when all executive functions
had been committed to the President of the
Republic, and therefore, at that period, the
Constituent was to all intents and purposes only
a legislative assembly. Moreover, the house
might remember, when the President of the
Assembly sent to a general of brigade at the In-
s-elides to requite troops, and these troops were
refused, M. Odilon Barret, then Minister of Foreign
Affairs, explained that the troops had been refused
by mistake, and that the right of requisition was
incontestable, although it should be used with due
consideration. He added that in case of necessity
the right might be carried out to its extreme con-
sequences, and that the only judge of its exercise
was the President of the Assembly. The Minister
of War confirmed these explanations, and pro-
mised to post up the decree in all the barracks.
The committee founds its decisions in favour
of the bill on the language of the constitution, which
applies the same term, "dispose," to the authority of
the executive and the legislative over the armed force,
and evidently considers the authority of both co-
ordinate.

Towards the close of his report M. Vitet alluded to
the statements of the Minister of War and the Inte-
rior before the committee, in which they admitted the
legality of the decree of the constituent, and which
statements they afterwards disavowed in letters writ-
ten to the committee. After the report was concluded
the greatest agitation reigned for some time in the
Assembly. The questors and their party wanted to
defer the debate until after the debate on the elec-
toral chapter of the Municipal Bill. fixed for Mon-
day ; but the coalition of the Elyseans and Mountain
procured the appointment of the discussion for
Monday. The sitting then broke up in great
agitation.
PARIS, SUNDAY EVENINO.
The Patrie says :—" M. Blondel does not accept
the portfolio of finance. This refusal will naturally
cause some changes in the composition of the cabinet
of the 27th October."

The Nlarquis Lisboa, Brazilian minister in London,
has been appointed in the same diplomatic capacity
at Paris.

This being the day fixed for drawing for the
prizes of the lottery of the Gold Ingots, from an
early hour Franconi's circus, in the Champs Elyskes,
whose spacious domed amphitheatre was
destined for this operation, was beset with
crowds ready to pour into the edifice as soon as the
doors were opened. The interior was brilliantly lit
with gas, as on a night when Sldlle. Caroline proposes
to witch the world with peerless horsemanship. The
mob carried the second places in a twinkling ; but the
first were reserved. In the arena seven small wheels
ranged on one axle enclosed severally the units, tens,
and so on up to the 7th figure, representing millions.
A little behind sat 21 children gaily attired, through
whose hands were to pass the fated numbers. The
doyen of the mayors presided at the operation.
At about half-past nine o clock about four thousand
people were assembled under the dome, two circles
of the reserved benches being occupied by the re-
publican guard. Outside stretched on all hands an
immense crowd, thickly dotted with blouses. At
ten o'clock the members of the Committee
of Surveillance having been assembled round
• table in the arena, the mayor read the decree ap-
pointing the lottery, and proceeded to explain the
machinery. " lhe seven wheels," said he, " are
set in motion by the same axle, which
imparts to them an even and regular rota-
tion which shuffles the balls enclosed; then, at a
given signal, they all stop at once. A door opening
by a spring affords sufficient space to admit the hand
of a child placed behind each wheel. The child
draws out a ball, places it above his head, and
fixes it to a sprig of iron, from which the
ball is conspicuous from a long distance. Six wheels
contain in each ten balls, numbered 0 to 9; the
seventh wheel, containing the balls that are to
mark the millions, is furnished with only seven num-
bered oto 6. The first ball on the left will indicate
the unities of millions; the second the unities of
hundreds of thousands; the third the unities of tens of
thousands; the fourth the unities of thousands; the
fifth the unities of hundreds ; the sixth the unities of
tens; the 7th the simple unities. So that the seven
balls drawn and placed simultaneously upon the iron
sprigs show a number in figures which is the num-
ber to which the lots belong in the order of their
value. It is agreed that seven zeros drawn at the
same time signify 7,000,000. As the same number
can only gain ono lot, in case the same
number should be drawn twice, the second drawing
is to be annulled. To provide for the case of the
children letting the balls fall as they draw them out,
sad to revent the numerical order from being
deranged, the balls of each wheel are coloured dif-
ferent ~ so that they may be at once picked up and
recognised. Tho public is again warned that
there will be no second drawing, and no
reduction from the value of the lots." The
21 children who were employed to draw the lots
marched past the chair, and drew by lot the order in
which they were to take their places. The colour of
the balls for each wheel was also decided by lot. The
7 first children placed themselves before the 7
wheels. The wheels were transparent, so that the
public might see that the balls contained
in them corresponded to the colours assigned by lot.
Ihe lot first drawn was the great prize of 400,000
francs. Amidst the deepest silence the number
drawn was 2,338,113.
A prize of 200,000 francs to 0,320,430.
A prize of 100,000 francs to 2,017,288.
Two prizes of 50,000 francs to 3,283,374 and
2,898,291.

Four prizes of 25,000 francs to 1,338,398;-
1,732,833 ;-8,472,637 ;--and 1,383,754.
Five prizes of 10,000 francs to 6,717,264 ;-
3,703,820 ; 3,636,773 ;-6,373,590 ;—and 5,445,786.
Prizes of 5,000 francs to 3,636,306;-2,537,871
2,671,870; 4,016,769; 1,710,342; 0,400,267 ;-
3,924,269 —2,808,217 ;-5,757,864;—and 0,337,836.
The committee on the Municipal Bill met yesterday,
in pursuance of the task imposed upon them of
adapting the 2nd chapter of that administrative pro-
ject to the exigencies of the coming debate upon the
great question of the electoral law. The committee
propose to create a distinction between the domicile
of origin and the domicile of adoption. With
to the latter, the provisions of the law
of fay are to be retained in their entirety. Not only
are three years' residence in one place to be necessary
to constitute a new domicile, but the difficult and op-
pressive kind of proof invented by the law of May
is still to be required. M. Monet moved to
reduce the term of residence from three years to
one, but the majority of tho committee rejected
this amendment. With regard to the domicile of
origin the final determination of the committee was
that every Frenchman of the age of 21 years who
shall have continued to reside without interruption
in the commune where his name is inscribed in the
register of births, shall be an elector. In default of

the register of birth, the domicile of origin
may be proved by the lists of persons liable to
be drawn for the army. In cases whore a person in-
scribed On the recruiting lists may have abandoned
his domicile of origin, and afterwards resumed it, he
is to be alloWed to vote upon proof of six months' re-
newed residence in the place of his original domicile,
such proof to be given to the satisfaction of the
mayor and two assessors, appointed by the
jig° de pain, instead of the certificate of the
tax-gatherer, or of his master or landlord being re-
quired. The six months residence, mentioned in the
latter clause, was adopted upon the motion of
M. Odilon Barret. This concession was opposed by
MM. de Broglie, licurtier, and other members of
the committee, who wished to maintain the original
clause of the municipal committee, which required a
fresh; residence of one year to acquire the benefit of
a domicile of origin. A further concession to the prin-
ciple of facilitating the right to vote was also adopted
upon the motion of M. Moulin. Retired soldiers,
sailors, and government functionaries entitled to pen-
sions are to be eligible as electors after six months
residence in the commune where their pension is
payable. The evident object of these partial conces-
sions to universal suffrage is to favour as much as
possible the agricultural voters, who are supposed to
be susceptible of aristocratic influence, and to keep
out of the electoral pale large numbers of artisans
whose employment depending upon the fluctuations
of trade in large manufacturing towns necessarily
compels them to change their residence frequently.
M. Pierre Leroux has presented the following
amendment to the questors' proposition: "I pro-
pose to put on the order of the day of the army, and
to post up in the barracks, not one article of the
constitution only, nor a decree alluding to that ar-
ticle, but the whole constitution."

The vote of the Assembly, reported in my letter of
yesterday, which fixes the debate on the Questors
Bill for Tuesday, necessarily implies the adjournment
of the discussion of the electoral question, appointed
for the same day. It is also an earnest of victory for
the executive, since the parliamentary league strained
every effort to put off the Questors' Bill until the
electoral battle had been decided. Their object in
this manoeuvre was clearly to guard against the vote
on the proposition of M. Mize being the contre-
cwip of the division on Thursday last; while,
if the debate on the electoral chapter of the
Municipal Bill intervened, the modifications, to be
admitted in the law of May 31 by the einservatives
would have conciliated the waverers, consolidated the
party, and paved the way to a fresh success on the
Questors Bill. 'the main argument on which the report
of M. Vitet dwells is the contradiction between the
statements of General St. Arnaud and M. do 'flso-
rigny before the committee, and their written dis-
avowal of the language attributed to them in the
minutes. The ministers at first admitted that the
decree of the Constituent on May 11, which is sub-
stantially the same with the proposition of the (Ilkes-
ton was still in vigour, and afterwards retracted
this admission. Now, M. Vitet says that
the committee, deeming the ministerial admission
of the rights of the Assembly a sufficient guarantee,
were prepared, in consideration of the public tran-
quilit)•, to recommend the withdrawal of the bill.
But the written disavowal appeared to them so grave
a symptom of aggreasion on the undoubted privileges
of the Assembly, that they conceived it to be their
duty to reverse their previous decision, and to press
the Assembly to adopt the bill without loss of time.
For this reason they moved urgency. 'Meinwhile
the Minister of War, General Arnaud, has given the
first token of that decisive energy of character for
which he was probably promoted to his present
post. Immediately after denying that the decree
of the Constituent was still in vigour, he sent orders
to General Magnan to give instructions to the com-
manders of brigades to tell their colonels to have the
decree removed from the barracks, wherever it was
posted up. This has been the signal for tremendous
excitement among the Changarnier clique, who stig-
matise the act as an open aggression upon the rights
of the Assembly; and if they ever succeed in ar-
raigning Louis Napoleon at the bar of a high court,
this feat no doubt will figure as one of the articles
of his impeachment. For by whom was the de-
cree posted up in those barracks. By the Mi-
nister of War of Louis Napoleon himself, General
Rulhieres, who thus endorsed the right claimed by
he Constituent, at a period when the executive
functions of that Assembly had been consigned to
the elect of December 10; and when, consequently, the
Constituent became to all intents and purposes a
merely Legislative Assembly. Hence M. Vitet
deduces the validity of the decree as applied to the
present Legislative Assembly. In answer to all this
ingenious reasoning, it is to be observed that when
the present legislative first met, and formed their
regulations, it was proposed to recent among these
the decree in question; but that proposi-
tion was rejected. The decree was passed
at a date when the Constituent exercised
the executive as well as legislative functions,
and four days before the famous trruption of the mob
into the legislative palace. It is now claimed by the
legislative power as an arm against the executive.
That such an application of the right of the Assembly
to dispose of troops for its protection was never con-
templated is evident from the 68th article of the
constitution, which empowers the Assembly to im-
peach the President,and pronounced him, by the fact
of his impeachment,deposeal from his functions. This
is the true safeguard of the Assembly against any
aggression of the executive power, and it was never
intended, by allowing that body to fix the import-
ance of the troops necessary fur its protection, and
to dispose of them, to furnish the legislature with
a sword as well as a shield. Such a division of the
executive power would be permanent anarchy. Not-
withstanding the obvious truth of this assertion, it
is by no means certain that the Questors' Bill will
to-morrow be thrown out. Even the Sleek mom.
mends its adoption, although the triumph of the
royalists, which is implied in such a conclusion, must
inevitably lead to the destruction of the moderate re-
publicans who compose the party of the Sieele. The
National and Ergitement, organs of the Mountain,
are silent on the subject.
Yesterday, when the vote was taken by amais-et-
leo for appointing Monday for the debate, a schism
was noted in this party, and the trial was doubtful.
On the second trial, M. Cremieux contributed greatly
to the success of the government by his exertions in
rallying the dissentient votes. The ministers La-
ernase and St. Arnaud challenged the nearest day.
When M. Vitet disclaimed all aggressive intentions
against the executive, and said that the law was not
a law of opportunity, but one of principle, the thin
veil of hypocrisy was rent with a roar of laughter.
If the urgency should be voted and the bill passed
the President will no doubt use his prerogative to
challenge a second deliberation. If the house pass
it a second time, the measure will be promulgated as
law, whether sanctioned by the executive or not.
His refusal to promulgate the law would, per-
haps, be a point on whi•th the powers would join
issue. Under such circumstances, so pregnant
with vital issues to France, it is to be lamented that
the cabinet seems in a parliamentary point of view
by far the weakest the President has yet employed,
and inferior in capacity even to that provisional one
of MM. Weiss and Royer.
The arguments drawn by M. Vitet from the ad-
missions of Odilon Barret and General Rulhieres
soon after the 20th Dec., 1848, are rather plausible
than sound. It was necessary, alter General Foret
had refused troops to the requisition of Armand
Marrast, to make some concession to the As-
sembly to gild the pill, and coax into
quiet. But no practical concession was ever in-
tended. The Assembly was humoured as a child that
cries for a knife, but the knife was kept out of its
reach. Nothing makes people stare more than the
accession of Odilon Barrot, who was regarded as the
pattern of moderation, to the parliamentary, or rather
the royalist league. Some assert, jocularly, perhaps,
that he seems to be playing for the
.post of prime
minister to the parliament. But Caysagnac, to play
into the hands of the same party, mast be fairly de-
mented. His organ, the Sleek, cries out to-day :
" If you do not vote the questors proposition—
" L'empire eat fait." Who would have fancied that
the victor of the days of June would have con-
descended to wear the old shoes of M. Thiers.
Let ns hope that the ex-chief of the executive is too
much engaged with his nuptials with a millionaire of
19 to attend to the doings of the Siecle.
Larochejacquelin yesterday stated that he with-
drew his amendments to the electoral law of May 31,
as these amendmedta were referred to the Committee
on the Municipal Bill, and were now useless.
The following official communication appears in

the .Ifonitertr, relative to the expedition against
Morocco:

A journal states that tho expedition directed by the
government against the coast of Morocco has been deter-
mined by the knowledge of a similar expedition ordered
by the cabinet of London. This statement is complete!
untrue. Tho government is not aware if England
intends to attack the territory of Morocco. As to the
French naval force sent to Sah h, to support the demand
made, hitherto without sneers:, for reparation in conse-
quence of the pillage of a trading refuel ; this measure had
already been long in deliberation, and would probably have
been taken sooner but for the ministerial erki. in October.

The lics.sayer mentions, as a fact calculated to stir
the displeasure of the parliament, and to induct,
them to vote the proposition of the rs qucAto, that H.
de Cotte, general of one of the divisions of the army
of Paris, has ordered the colonels under his com-
mand to tear down in all barracks where it yet re-
mains the decree of tho Constituent relative to the
Assembly's right of requiring troops, which was
posted up by orders of General liulhii.res, Odilon
Barrot's Nliiiister of War.

The Electoral U,ioo announces as its candidateg
for the representation of the Seine M. Devinck.
former President of the Tribunal of Commerce of the
Seine, and member of the Municipal and Depart-
mental Committee; General Bougenel ; and M.
Marbcan, founder of the ere:Then. These candi-
dates have declared that they are ready to de-
fendd with energy the principles of order and conci-
liation which presided at the formation of the Union;
and that they will withdraw if their names should
not occupy the first rank in the preparatmy ballot,
which is fixed for the 2lst., 22nd., and 23rd. instants.

The 3fimiteur states that the council of state
adopted the report on the bill for defining the re-
sponsibility of the I'resident in its sitting of the 12th.

ITALY.

MILAN, Nov. 10.
The military commander has forbidden the pro-
testants of Milan to meet, as heretofbre, at the house
of Mr. Myfins, for the celebration of their worship.
Mr. Mylius is a merchant held in general esteem.
Several arrests have been effected at Padua. Be.
side the Abbe Nardi, a young man, of good family,
named de Grand* has been seized and imprisoned.