The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-16 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, TOP.SDAT ETZKINO.
As I mentioned yesterday, the public was not re-
presented at the ceremony of opening the legislative
session at the Tuileries. There was, however, a very
large attendance of official personages and their
ladies. The Moniteur gives the following account
of the proceedings:
"To-day, at one o'clock, the Emperor opened the
legislative session in person, at the Palace of the
Tuileries, in the Salle des Marechaux, and received
the oaths of the Senate and Corps LCgislatif. The
throne was placed at the bottom of the hall, on
an estnde, a little in front of one of the windows
looking into the garden. On the right a chair of state
was placed for Prince Jerome Napoleon, and on the
left a chair for Prince Napoleon. A little in the rear
were placed pliants for the princes of the im-
perial family designated by his Majesty. The win-
dow recess was set apart for the households of the
Emperor and the Imperial family. On the right and
ou the left were seats for the ministers. On each
I side near the seats reserved fur the ministers were
others set apart for the president, vice-presidents.
and presidents of sections of the Council of State,
Behind were places for the other members of the
same body. On the right of the throne at a right
angle with it were placed seats for the diplomatic
corps. In front of the throne on the right, were the
seats reserved for the Senate, and on the left those
for the Legislative Body. Behind the Senate were
seats for the deputations of the clergy, of the
Court of Caseation, and the other law courts, and for
the staff of the army of Paris. A wide passage lead-
ing to the throne had been left vacant between the
seats of the Senate and of the Legislative Body.
The gallery above was appropriated to the Empress,
the Princesses, and the ladies invited.

The diplomitic corps and the three great bodies of
the state, all in full uniform, arrived at half-past 12.
They were received by master and assistant-masters
of the ceremonies, and conducted to the place destined
for them.

At five minutes to one a deputy master of the I
ceremonies came forward and announced " The
Empress," and immediately every one rose to receive
her. Her Majesty passed through the centre ,
of the hall to the place appropriated to her„i
preceded by the officers of the household, and
followed by her ladies of honour. Ou the
right of the Empress was seated the Princess
Mathilde, and on the left the Countess de Montijo.
At each side were the Princesses of the Imperial
family designated by the Emperor, and the Mar-
quise Bartholini. Also were to be seen there the
wives of the ambaseadors, of the ministers, of the
marshals and admirals, of the great officers of crown,
of the members of the bureaux of the Senate, Legisla-
tive Body, and Council of State, and the ladies
attached to the households of the various members of
the Imperial family.
The Empress was received with marks of the most
respectful sympathy. Immediately after her arri-
val a salvo of 101 guns was fired to announce that
the ceremony was about to commence. Then the
grand master of the ceremonies went to inform the
Emperor and his Majesty's cortege moved forward
in the order indicated in the programme of the cere-
mony. On the entry of the cortege, an assistant
master of ceremonies announced "the Emperor."
At this moment the assembly unanimously cried
" Vire rEmpereur! Vivo l'lmperatrice r' Empe
roe wore the uniform of a general of division with
the grand cordon of the Legion of Honour. He took
his place in the front of the throme, having on his
right Prince Jerome Napoleon in the uniform of mar-
shal, and Prince Napoleon in that of general of divi-
sion. On the left of this latter was Prince Lucien.
The household of his Majesty was behind the throne.
At the foot was the grand master of the ceremonies,
having a master of the ceremonies on his left. The
other master was in front of the diplomatic body, and
the assistant masters were at the doors. The entire
assembly being standing and uncovered, his Majesty
sat down, and, the grand master of the ceremonies
having first taken the Emperor's orders, said " Cien-
tlemen, be seated."
His Majesty then rose and, in a firm voice, pro-
nounced the following speech [already given in the
Daily News]. Then, the grand master of the cere-
monies, having received the orders of the Emperor,
went and intimated them to the minister of state.
That functionary announced that he was about to
proceed to administer the oath, and that each of the
senators and deputies would, when his name was
called out, have to raise his right hand, and reply
individually with the words "I swear," to the fol-
lowing form of oath: "I swear obedience to the
constitution, and fidelity to the Emperor." The
minister then proceeded to call over all the names,
commencing for the Senate with the members of the
bureau, the cardinals, the marshals, and admirals,
and then the other members; and for the Legislative
Body, with the members of the bureau, the ques'ors,
and then the other deputies. ,When every member
present had taken the oath, the Minister of State de-
clared the session of 1853 to be duly opened.
lam not sufficiently acquainted with the attri-
of the various great officers of state to be able to give
Toe the name of the high official whose province it
is to describe the degree and nature of the applause
with which the Emperor's speeches are received.
Whoever he may be it is impossible not to give him
credit for zeal and ingenuity in the performance of
his duty. In the official report of the Monileer the
following phrases are judiciously distributed at pro-
per intervals, "profound emotion r "loud approba-
tion;" "prolonged assent;" "loud and unanimous
applause r " marks of general satisfaction ;" " gene-
ral assent ;" " Viva rEmpereur ! Vice l'lmperatrice."
The /lenience publishes, not the names of the
senators and depuies who were present at the cere-
mony, but of those that were absent. The list in-
cludes very few senators, but as many as sixty-four
deputies, and among them M. Moutalembert, the
Duke d'Uzes, and most of the legitimist members.
Dr. Venn was also absent.

Count d'Haussonville, a nephew of the Duke de
Broglie, was arrested yesterday, under circumstances
described as follows by the Constitulionnel :
Count d'Haussosville, who was implicated in the affair of
the But/etas Francais, being in a carriage this morning
near the Pont Royal, wanted to cross the file of car-
riages of the Corps Legislatif proceeding to the
Tuileries. Upon mane observations being made by
an agent of authority to inform him that he
could sot be allowed to cross the line of procession, C unt
dliausaonville replied in terms insulting to his Majesty
the Emperor. He was arrested, and banded over to IL
Bosilly, the commissary of police.
Lord Cowley has left Paris for London.
The Italian Opera is densely crowded this evening,
on the occasion of the visit of the Emperor and Em-
press. The performance is "I Puritani."
A company has been organised in Paris to establish
a line of screw steamers immediately, between Bor-
deaux, Havre, Dieppe, and Rouen. The vessels will
be about 400 tons, and 100-horse power each.
The report of the committee appointed to consider
the " fusion " of the Eastern and the Normandy rail-
roads, just about to be published, is declared to be
favourable to that project.
At Berlin the latest rates are thus reported: Four-
and-a-Half per Cents., 1021; ditto Old, 1021; ditto,
1852, 1031. Three-and-a-Half ditto, 931. Frank-
fort : Fives, 851; Four-and-a-Half, 781; Fours, 691;
Threes, 52 ; Two-and-a-Half, 431. Bank, 1522.

PARIS, MONDAY Evaxixo.
The charge against the conductors of the Northern
Railway, who, as I mentioned on Saturday, were I
arrested, for clandestinely currying political corre-
spondence, is not a political one. They arc simply
amused of a fraud upon the Post-office regulations,
by taking letters for the conveyance of which the
Post.office has a monopoly. It can, however, scarcely
be doubted that the arrests were made for the pur-
pee of annoying and frightening correspondents.
Many of the Belgian papers have long been in the I
habit of receiving corresponlcnce through the
hands of the conductors, in order to save time. The
practice was no secret, and the breach of the
law was till now connived at by the authorities. The
',dependence and Emancipation of Brussels were de-
prived of their letters for two days in consequence
of this razzia. Several persons, bearers of packets to
the conductors, were arrested at the same time with
them.

Two correspondents of English journals have at-
tended M. Brault, the juge a'instruction, in pursuance
of subpomas, to giro evidence relative to the prosecu-
tion of some of the persons supposed to have given
them political information.
All the legitimist journals protest against the im-
putation of the Moniteur that the " Lettres Franqucs"
is the work of the legitimist party. The Union says,
with much reason, that, if the government with ail its