The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-27 00:00:00

FRANCE.
PARIS, FRIDAY EVENING.
I hear from a good source that the official procla-
mation of the poll and the promulgation of the new
constitution will take place on the same day; and
am even assured that so near a day as Monday next
is fixed for this double object, although one does not
well see how the official announcement of the poll
can take place so soon. But this news reaches me
from a quarter in which I place so much confidence,
that I give it without hesitation. It is certain that
the voting will be direct.
The polling for Louis Napoleon in the depart-
ment of the Hautes Alpcs and the Basses Alpcs, as
well as in a part of the Reran% has been postponed
till Sunday, -December 28.
In several of the departments which arc reckoned
strongholds of socialism, as, for instance, the Niecre,
Saone, and Puy de Dome, the socialists arc known to
have voted to a man in favour of the President. This
is attributed to their expectations of a socialist policy
from the new dictator
The latest general result of the election known up
to 5 o'clock this evening, is that the returns from t 43
departments, of which those of 43 are complete, give :
Yes
No
The results of the polls of the twenty-three fol-
lowing departments aro definitive :
Aisne
Atli, r
Ardennes
Avcyron
Charente
Cher
Cote d'Or 88,328 12,796
Doubs
Eure et.loir
Yin istere
Gironde
'Lilt Rhin
Ille et Vileine
Indre
Indre-et-leire
Landes 61,186 2,407
lair-et-C ig.r
Loire-luferieure
Loire 78,729 7,917
Lot-et-Gareanc
31tinc-et-Loire
Marne
Marne (Haute)
Meuse
Meurtho
Merbihen 64,506 3,416
Moselle 93,167 3,737
Nieves 74,426 1,596
Nerd 221,214 13,956
Oite
Pas-de-Calais
Puy Ale -Dome 128,215 2,312
Pyrenees Orientates
Saone-et-Loire
Seine interims
Saone (haute)
tinnhe
Stine 196,790 95,374
Seinttet-Marsse
S...vres (Deus) 74,214 2,8.5.5
Somme 146,646 3,911
Vienne (Uaiste)
Vendee 66,158 2,493
Vienne 65,950 4,183
Vosges 93,304 3,738

2,271,264 214,280

The department in which most communes have
voted unanimously is thAt of the Haute-Sa'''ne, in
which 315 communes out of 5,43 voted only in the
affirmative. In the Moselle, Dm communes gave not
a single negative vote.
I send you to-day a letter front the Pope's cham-
berlain to M. de Montakmbert. This document,
which appears to have been communicated by Mon-
talembert himself to a journal in Bretagne, La Bre-
bsyliv, has been, I understand, strictly. prohibited
by the censors at the Ministry of the Intcrior from re-
appearing in the Paris press. This circumstance, which
1 have just ascertained, gives additional importance
to the letter, which will probably uppem exclusively
in your columns. The writer, M. do Miirtxle, was a
lieutenant in the bataillon d'elite of the Belgian body
guard. A scandalous adventure, in which the ith
and 6th commandments were broken, and which
was painted to the life in the most tragic picture of
Hogarth's, " Marriage a la Mode,", caused the lieu-
tenant to fly front Brussels to evade the pursuit of
justice, and eventually led to his being. installed at
the court of the Vatican as the Nlonsignore came-
riere segreto of his Holiness. Few now can detect
in the demure chamberlain of the pontiff, with his
black silk gown and silver shoe-buckles, the dashing
guardsman and whiskered outlaw of Brussels. But
that an official with such antecedents should be the
correspondent of M. de Montalembert can excite
surprise only in simple minds. The letter is as
follows:

To M. DE MONTALEMDEUT.
Raw, Dee. H.

The news of the events tkat occurred in Paris on the
2nd of December ha+ bran received with great pleasure,
especially in the highest quarters. Cardinal Antonelli
did not conceal from the Sardinian minister, M. de Sambuci,
that he looked upon the news received from Paris as very
good; all reasonable people seem to be, without exception, in
the same frame of mind. I yesterday went to see the father
general of the Jesuits, who strongly disapproved of the con-
duct of the legitimist* at the maine of the 10th arrondisse-
ment. The hAy father has authorized me to tell ymt that
he entirely approves your adhesion to the consultative com-
mission. I may even add that I saw an expression of markcil
satisfaction in his countenance when he read your name and
that of Veruc [t cousin of the writer] m the first list that
was published; and, on the contrary, I observed in him a
feeling of regret when the second list arrived, in which your
names were not contained. Do not suppose, however, that
we are here under the illusion that all is saved;; we only re-
joice at every favorable crisis which seems to augment the
hope of a cure. It is now certain that safety is decidedly
in the hands of the conservatives ; if the socialists should
one day triumph it will only be because their adversaries
will have chosen to let them.

A new paper, bearing the curious title of La D,%-
tnacratic Napolronienne, is cried about the boulevards
to-day, and catches the car by the singular fusion of
extremes. The last feat of !Capoleoman democracy
has been to suppress the device of the republic—
" Liberte. Egalitir, Fraternite"—on all public build-
ings at Moulins and the other towns of the .Hier,
where we have lately seen the deeds of General
Eynand. The things being erased so effectually, it
would be indeed but a mockery to keep the in-
scription.
Booths arc erecting along. the boulevard fur the
fair. The shops arc beginning to drive a brisker
trade.

M. Bien&lli, adjutant commandant of the palace
of the Elysie, has been appointed a chevalier of the
Legion of Honour.
I have to day seen a letter from Bordeaux, stating
facts relating to the election, of such gravity that I
must beg particularly not to be understood as
l affirm-
, 'lig them positively to be true. I can state of my
own knowledge that the letter emanates from a must
respectable and trustworthy quarter. In the com-
mune of Lormont, a village near Bordeaux, on the
right bank of the Garonne, 100 electors affirm that
they voted in the negative, but the declared result of
the ballot gives only 30 Noes. In the commune of
Luasac five or six inhabitants assert loudly that they
voted .• No," and yet the official return states that the
votes were unanimously in the affirmative. The
mayor of Cestas gave public notice that he knew be-
forehand all who were disposed to vote against Louis
Napoleon, and that ho would arrest them if they
should present themselves at the poll. I have no
difficulty in believing the latter statement, because I
know from other sources that in many parts of',
France similar threats have been made. But if the
ballot-boxes have been tampered with, one
cannot help thinking that, in spite of the universal
state of siege, there must yet exist public spirit
enough to prevent the matter from being hushed up.
The two prisons of Bordeaux are so overflowing
that the barracks have been converted into a third,
This is not surprising, for, in many villages of the
Lot-et-Garonne and of the Gers, the whole adult
male population has been swept away in custody.
These villages are now inhabited by women and
children only.
Preparations are making in the Cathedral of Notre-
Dame fur the grand mass and Tc Drum to be
ehaunted in celebration of the vote of the
20th and 21st of December. The principal
front and the two towers are to be decorated
with hangings nod tricoloured flags. Before the
choir, under a rich canopy, will be set the arm.
chair of the President, with his prie-dieu. The tri-
bunes on the right and left will be reserved for tho
constituted bodies.
Last night several of the theatres were illu-
minated.

The garrisons of the towns arc overwlavlmed with
civilities by the municipalities, and invited to take
punch in the saloons of theatres.