The Express.
London, England, 1851-03-17 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 17, 1851.

necessary for the prolongation of powers; the guvern-
ment allCged that there was sufficient virtue in the
113th article of the constitution, which said: " All
authorities constituted by the actual laws remain in
exercise until the promulgation of the organic laws
which concern them." The speaker proceeded to
tour. thou the provisional character of the bill brought
in. It seemed as if the provisional system had been
invented for the annihilation of all rights ; states of
I siege, suspensions of municialities, every confisca-
tion of liberties crept in under pthe mask of provisional
measures, which were nevertheless final in their
destruction of all freedom.
M. de Ititineey supported the necessity of the tran-
sitory law to MIL away all doubt and pretext for
dissensions, conflicts, and confusion on the subject,
which, if left undetermined, would supply a dange-
rous theme for sedition and agitation.
M. Jules Fevre entered into a long and somewhat
metaphysical disquisition on the question, and de-
duced the conclusion that the bill would be a gross
u.surpation on the part of the legislative power, which
would thereby set itself up as sovereign without ap-
peal. M. Bare defended the bill. M. Lamartine
justified the provisional government from the re-
proach of having adjourned the elections of the
national guard out of hostility against this insti-
tution.
M. de Germinv, Minister of Finance, having been
summoned to the bed-side of his mother, who is
lying dangerously ill at Rouen, the Mon/teur pub-
lishes a decree, devolving the portfolio of finance ad
interim to M, Magne, Minister of Public Works.
M. lkrryer has been prevailed upon to withdraw,
or at least entirely to remodel, his motion for reim-
bursing the 45 centimes tax.
'the Committee of Initiative decided to-day on the
rejection of the motion of the Mountain for repaying
the milliard voted by the government of the restora-
tion to the .Inigthr, which was a mere echo to the
proposition of M. Berrycr.
SCNDAT Evesnyo.
The angry polemics of the Orleanist and legitimist
papers on the subject of fusion, and the decided re-
pudiation on the part of the former party of a sub-
mission equallygulling to the pride of the Orlean s
house, and pernicious to its interests, have at length
produced a result which is likely to be of
considerable benefit to Louis Napoleon, in causing the
legitimists to advocate the prorogation of his powers
as the most effectual means of keeping the Orleans
princes out of France until they have done homage
to the Duke of Bordeaux. The church party, headed
by Nlontalembert, nets as mediator in cementing this
new coalition between the legitimists and Louis Na-
poleon. To repay the church party for this good
office, the Bonapartist organs assume a canting
tone. The Constitetionnel accuses the university
of teaching atheistical doctrines. The 211imitear,
however, contains a communication from the
Minister of Public Instruction, defending the univer-
sity against the canting attacks of the Omstita-
tioanet, and administering a severe rebuke to that
paper.
the transitory bill for adjourning the elections of
the National Guard was voted last night by 418
against 239. The latter part of the debate wits ex-
ceedingly animated. Cavuignac, Lammiciere, Jules
Fevre, laimartine, Mather de Moujau, Lagrange, each
brought their peculiar views to bear on this import-
ant question, and made, as on the electoral law of
May, once more a da;ing. stand in favour of the
people's paramount sovereignty through universal
suffrage. The legal side of the question is made
intelligible without much difficulty. When the con-
stitution was framed, certain institutions were left to
be determined by organic laws. Among these was
the public force, consisting of the army and the na-
tional guard. The organic law on the national
guard was presented in the Assembly on the 20th
of last July. The delay of the committee
in presenting its report has arisen, according to M.
Rianoty, from the reluctance of the government to
furnish essential documents. Meanwhile the law
which rules in the elections of the national guard
was enacted in 1831, and fixes the term of command
for the officers at three years, at the cud of which
period the government ought to convoke the electoral
colleges for the appointment of a fresh set of officers.
Nevertheless the government of Louis Philippe was not
very muictual in this duty, and often deferrt‘d t he eke- I
tions for several months. Thus the question came to he
raised, whether officers were bound to serve over the
I period of three years, and during the period of
adjournment. 'This question at length came before
the tribunals in 11437, in which year the elections had
been adjourned from May 11 to Sept. 1. The Court
of Cessation rendered a decree on August 19, obliging
officers to serve on until they are replaced. After
the revolution of February fresh elections took place,
by a decree of the provisional government, on the all
April. Hence, according to the law of 1831, the
electoral colleges of the national guard ought to
be assembled by the sth April, 1851. Again, there
is an article in the constitution, the 113th, which
says: "All the authorities constituted by the actual
laws remain in exercise until the promulgation of
the organic laws which concern them." Meanwhile
the President claims the prerogative of the monar-
chy of deferring within certain limits, on his own re-
sponsibility the period of re-election, relying on the
decree of the Court of Cessation end on the 113th
article of the constitution for the m.aintentmee of the
prevent officers in their functions. Now the Assem-
bly, that watches with the keenest jealousy any pro-
ceeding on the part of the executive which loolis like
the assumption of sovereignty, must needs put in its
oar, and pretend that a legislative act is indispensable.
The LeR regard such an act as a usurpation over the
principles of universal tuffrage. 'thus three lancers,each claiming to be the sovereign power, the hgis-
lative, executive, and the electoral, fasten on this
bone of contention. The government has excused
its double play on the ground that at first the delay
appeared too long, but since the committee had pm-
wised to bring up its report speedily it agreed to ad-
journ the elections. The chief incident of the debate
was the speech of General LamoricK,re, who said in
an ominous tone to the Right, that he was sorry to
see them sliding on such a precipice as taking on
themselves the arbitrary prolongation of the powers
of functionaries elected by universal suffrage. Au-'I
dren de Kerdrel, a legitimist, called out to the
general to remember that he himself had dissolved
four legions of the national guard of Paris. Lamo-
riciere said that he would respect the law if passed,
but they must expect that many scruples would
be ruined against it. I,amartine spoke nobly in
defence of the conduct of the people through-
out the revolutionary period of 1848. Caving-
sae protested against the stale artifice of the ma-
--
PARIS, SATCRDAY EVENING. ivritY in stopping the mouths of himself and his
The Assembly entered to-day upon the discussion PartY pith the exceptional measures which they had
of the transitory bill presented by the conunittev on oeen obliged to resort to at a critical moment of
the National Cuard Bill. supreme and solemn risk. Auden de Kerdrel raised
M. Waisse, Minister of the Interior, diseulpated a great hubbub by letting the eat out of the hag, and
confessing that distrust of what he called the gan-
the
reluc gotance in vernme
furnishing the
from the
committee reproach of hayinwithg
the in shown
grencd part of the national guard lay at the bottom'
-
of the measure. The speech of JulesTaire was the
formation and documents demanded by it. lie then
first that he has delivered since the law of trans-
tamedexlained how the government had at first enter-
portation, and was distinguished by that clear and
the intention of holding the elections of the
National Guard before the sth of April, on which day close logic which characterises his elotmence.
expires the delay fixed by the decree of the prom
sional government. But the reasons allegedby the corn- Among the minority were several Bonapartists—
as Generals Fabvier, braramont, and Gourgaud, Lu-
cien Murat, and VieillarcL
mince against this course had weighed with the go-
vernment to abandon this intention, and to admit
the propriety of adjourning the elections until the The practical question is just this :If the national
guard is allowed to proceed immediately to the elec.
passing of tlw organic law, now in course of prepa- Ron of its officers, it will infallibly choose, in the vast
ration. Nevertheless, the necessity of bringing in a ! marritY' republicans. The mere announcement of
special law with this object ha not been forced guts a result, without taking ulterior consequences
upon the conviction of the cabinet, which looked into calculation, would be quite enough to give a
upon the decree of the Court of Caseation continuing shock to the brittle frame of society through the
all functionaries in their posts until dismissal, as
plying in the present instance to the officers of thea
p_ • length and breadth of France, and'lto produce the
game general agitation which the Paris elections did,
national guard, and sufficient for their legal con- Therefore, there exists, in the opinion of the paella.
finuance in the performance of their duties. There- mentors majority, a social necessity which outweighs
fore the governmeut had declined to take the in- witirtehlythlll:enimmapollrlteagnatl. seMpaidiesa'toriThaielort;ictmaisympTrironnra-
ing in such a bill but it would not oppose the bill
itiative, pressed upon it by the committee, in bring-
brilliant feats on either side, but will effect nothing.
which the committee had thought proper to present The national guard cannot be trusted to choose their
in its own name.
Madier de Nlonjan regarded the bill as a bold officers, and, whetherlegally or illegally,must be pre-
I Tented; that is the real view of the majority.
thel hanevtieeaelr:gedja-edamieofunsteretctlhtieimyeitu thThe die s.pesopelumtioeen
con-
of
on the part of the legislative
.power over
' metheasonevectiseigenivreignhiat ofsueragethe peo. pi.l.,ev,etexesretetsceesll7bBy9 tthhree
tarn the official decree ordering this measure, beside
which they publish Louis Napoleon's famous procla-
commands in the national guard had been bestowed
motion to the inhabitants of the same city accusing by the principle of election. The government had
Louis Philippe of having disbanded their legions,
at first done justice to the constitution by its inten-
, The news from Strasbourg confirms the intelligence tion to hold the elections on the 25tli of March,
I sent of the resignations of the mayor and two of
when the powers confided to the officers expired by
• his deputies. The proclamation of Limis Napoleon, law. But it had allowed itself to be persuaded by
contemplate at this time of day. It is as follows :
the committee of the danger of holding general in October, 1836, is certainly a curious document to
elections at a period so excited according to
heT,finzt,h,thlealhis,linitari,mtsofofh,B,trsinttibufirtt—orAelsatthctios,,nsa,—To you
a law of election which had received its deathblow
degas,. of the holy •
on the 31st of ofeenumtteeMay, andtheewasitihhtus
easpieet
mmwerte.maresushenti-
alliance, compromised evaerPy''dwa:yr
more your prospects as a civilised people. The
mono witch,
a

bates of human deities, being alone wise where all
are ignorant, alone great where all are grovelling in
the dust—this seemed the true paradise to the wor-
t shippers of high priesthood and indefeasible aris-
tocracy. And hence has arisen the servile and
medico-al school which would reform England by
causing it to relapse to the habits and thoughts of
the fifteenth century, and thus take place at the tail
of Europe, instead of continuing its great mission at
the head.
Contradistinguished from these remains the old
English school of judgment and feeling, which has
travelled too, and which has brought home from
foreign sojourn no such overwhelming admiration fur
the picturesqueness of ignorance, which has observed
the social as well as the religious characteristics of
those lands, and seen nothing but tyranny, be-
nightedness, and helpless degradation in countries
governed politically and religiously atter the ideas of
five centuries back.
If in Lord SHREW ,BURY'S pamphlet and in Lord
ARUNDEL and SURREY'S speeches we have striking
examples of the retrograde school, which would
behold nothing but priest-ridden Italy, with the bar-1
barons kingdoms of Europe revolving round it, we
have found in Sir Roma l'Eet. a powerful, a
genuine, a racy specimen of that thorough Eng-
lish feeling, true to the age, its maturity-,
and intelligence, which knows this country
to be three centuries beyond such regions
as Italy or Spain, and which esteems a plain
Englishman to be a much more sure and sensible
judge either on political or religious questions than
any brigand of Calabria or monk of Seville, al-
though the one may have been transmuted into
prime minister of the POPE, and the other into his
legate in Great Britain.
The speech of young Sir ROBERT PEEL was no
concoction of the political brain, no got up maiden
speech to entitle the maker to take place in any
special party. It was a genuine outburst of
judgment and sentiment, formed during year!, of re-
sidence in many countries. those years being also ones
of experience and responsibility. The value of these
sentiments moreover is, that they arc the sentiments
of nine-tenths of travelled Englislunen, of all who
have lived in and studied Roman catholic countries.
and who have returned, deeply fraught with the
horror of any such political and religious system
acquiring once more ascendancy amongst us.
It must be painful, certainly, to an educated and
generous mind, to be compelled to utter such judg-
ments and opinions of the creed of so large a
portion of one's countrymen. And in ordinary
times, and under common circumstances, there are
few who would not shrink from a task so ungracious.
But there are times when we must speak forth the
truth, and especially when challenged to it, as
English protestants have been, by the monstrous
impertinence of Wtseites. If there is discourtesy
and ungencrosity in the arguments with which the
Humanists have been answered, it is they that have
rendered it necessary. And not withstanding the taunt
of Mr. 'APO; LLAGII that the late Sir ROBERT PEEL would
not have uttered such sentiments as those avowed by
his son, we firmly believe that he would quite as
fully have entertained them, and that, were he in
the prime and commencement of his political career,
he would not have shrunk from expressing them.
There is, however, one character, ono expression
of sentiment, which we have in vain looked for
throughout these debates, and which, we think;
one had a right to expect. We have heard
every degree of protestant feeling, from that
which boils in the breast of Sir Rol:filer
INGLIS at the very mention of popery, to
that which sings in sympathy with it from the
nationality of the Irish and non-catholic liberal. We
have heard Lord JOHN Resstae. anxious to do little,
Sir GEORGE GREY making that little less. and Sir
Jamfis Git vti valt professing the purpose of complete
impunity to sacerdotal assumption. But we see on
the other side no member or man assume
or avow the character of un enlightened
Roman catholic of the nineteenth century, hold-
ing to Rome indeed as a point of unity, but
unfettered to its bigotry or its ignorance. IVe see
Roman eatholics who are Irish liberals. We have
not seen any who dare to profess themselves Euro-
pean liberals. We hear none of them exclaim with
°Avant against the infamies of the Roman restoration,
of the Neapolitan government, of the sacerdoial reac-
tion in 'lemony, of its tyranny in Austria, and its
libcrtieidc effects at Turin. When we read the de-
bates in the House of Commons, we are reduced to
put the humiliating question whether there be
an eminent Roman catholic in this country
and in parliament whom his priesthood permits
to entertain one really liberal, philanthropic, Euro-
pean feeling; and who entertains one spark of libe-
ralism, except that which is immediately to serve
his own cause and contribute to the future ascen-
dancy of his intrinsically illiberal creed.
WC put these questions 'because we know that there
are liberal Roman catholics in England, very limy
of them—nay, that there are many in parliament;
and we know of nothing that would be of
such beneficial effect in reconciling the best
men of the now discordant creed., if men
like Lord BE WSW:CT would come forward in the
House of Commons and show how little a belief in
Roman catholic tenets implies an approbation of the
temporal rule or political doings of the popedoni.
'flat there are liberal Roman catholics on the con-
tinent we also know full well. We are all ac-
quainted with the name of SICCARDI, and honour
it. We know that the Roman catholic minister
of Piedmont, who was lately refused absolution
on his death-bed because 'he would not for-
swear and disavow the principle that a priest
was amenable for crimes to a lay tribunal: we
know that he was a devout catholic, although ltome
and its agents treated him as they would a Ilussulman
or a !Undoes. Rut from the silence of the Irish and
English Roman catholics in our parliament with
respect to papal politics, it is open to us, and we
fear open also to Europe, to suppose that they
are of that bigoted school which reigns in Italy by
virtue of French and of Austrian bayonets, and,
which, the gaoler and executioner of liberals where
it is predominant, humbly invokes their justice and
compassion here, in order that it may become se.

The Morning Herald says: "We arc able to an-
nounce that Mr. Balla has withdrawn hid motion
in reference to the government of Ceylon."

FRANCE.