The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 7, 1853.

FRANCE.

BELGIUM,

Tho new Belgian Press Law came into operation
on the Ist inst.
The Inth,pendanee states that on that day
the booksellers of Brussels removed from their
windows all such books and pictures as might sub-
ject them to penalties wader the new system of
restriction.

PARIS, THVESDAT EVENING.
The reception of the Russian Minister is announced
in the Moniteur in the following terms:

The Emperor received yt•sterday at the Tuileries, from
M. du Ki,seleff, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Pleni-
potentiary of his Majesty the Eniperdr of all the 'Lustig.,
the letter. which confirm him in his position at the Court
of the Emperor of the French. M. de Kisseleff was con-
veyed to the audience of the Emperor in a mulatto of the
Court, end w.n, presented to his Majesty by the mater of
the ceremonies, introducer of ambassador:.
It is a curious fact, as showing how completely
the public has been mystified on the subject of the
recognition of the Empire by the northern powers,
that at the very moment when M. Kisseleff was at
the Tuileries yesterday. it was universally believed
at the Bourse that the Russian credentials would not
arrive for some days, and the money article of last
night's Presse states that the funds rose for a few
moments on account of the Austrian and Prussian
ministers h:a-ing received their letters of credence,
the fact being that they bad not come. It is much
remarleal to-day that the resole ion of the King of
Prussia to recognise the Emperor has been, accord-
ing to the announcement of the government journals
themselves, arrived at under circumstances in-
dicative of anything but cordiality. In an
article quoted by the Pafrie free the Ga-
atate do Silesie it is stated that the recognition was
a matter of necessity, that the non-recognition would
have been a caws betti, that Prussia is not prepared
for war, and that the country may thank M. de Man-
teulfel for having procured the recognition. There
is something really alarming in the assumption that
nothing but the very uncertain tenure of M. Mau-
teutfers cabinet stood in the way of a cam LA*.
Meanwhile it is evident that the snot trordre has
been given to tho government prints here to preach
peace, and they do it with such pertinacity, that the
Assena'e exclaims in a pet, " better the trum-
pet of war with all its horrors than this
eternal dinning of peace in our cars." M.
Capefigue, in the .Touena/ do i'Etnpire, commences the
first of a series of articles upon diplomacy. He has
not yet penetrated far itto his subject, has argument
ta-day being chiefly directed to show that Europe
always has and necessarily must recognise all regular
governments in France, whatever may be their form.
But he premises in his next letter to give a practical
bearing to his observations, in order to" extinguish
many petty rumours, and per Laps also many foolish
or culpable hopes."
The Monsteur announces that the ministers of the
United States, Wurtemberg, Bavaria, Tuscany,
Hanover, Baden, and Saxony, have received their
new letters of credence, and will be speedily ad-
mitted to present them to his Majesty.
A report, that the King of Naples had agreed to
pay 12 millions of francs, with 33 years' interest, in
liquidation of the indemnity claimed by Prince Lu-
cien Murat, in respect of property belonging to King
Joachim Murat at the time of his flight, and after-
wards taken by the Bourbons, has produced the fol-
lowing letter from the prince to the Presse :
Paris, Jan. 4.
In your number of this morning you give an extract from
the Corriere Mercantile. TLat jiurnol entertains its
readers with en account of claims which I, it declares, have
made on the present government of Naples, and of the con-
ciliatory offers with which my demands were met. Seve-
ral times already the press as published on this subject ar-
ticles entirely false. I think it necessary to give them, once
for all, a complete contradiction. The persons who are ac-
quainted with the character of the King of Naples could
not have fallen into any emir in the matter, but it is not tho
same with the public, which receives as exact tie news
which is propagated as food for its curiosity.—L. MLUAT.
For a letter intended to set the matter finally at
rest this appears to me singularly ambiguous.
Whether Prince Murat has ever made, or intends to
make any claim at all upon Naples is left altogether
uncertain. The allusion to the character of the King
of Naples is open to several constructions. it may
be that his well known liberality would not have
allowed him to make so small an offer, or that his
parsimony would have shrunk from so liberal a one.
A possible meaning may be that he is not the man
to admit a stale claim, and it is equally con-
sistent w ith the text that the tendencies of his cha-
racter would incline hint to tax his subjects hand-
somely to purchase the forbearance of a now power-
ful family. If the heir of King Joachim really means
to say that he wants no money from Naples it will
be absolutely necessary for him to express himself
mare clearly, before tlic public can understand that
the question is at end.
The .Ifoniteur contains several decrees of no great
interest. The Imperial Council of Public Instruction
for 1833 is appointed. M. Dumas end M. Nisard,
the president and secretary of the council last year,
are respectively re-appointed to those offices. The
annual session of the council will be opened on the
17, and will last a month. By another decree a
medication is made in the constitution of the credit
fowler bank created on the 28th of February
1852, to the effect that credit notes issued by the
bank must be registered and rifled by a government
commissary. This regulation is in conformity with
the general rule laid down by a decree on public ad-
ministration, of October 18th last, that the commis-
sary appointed by government as an iuspector of
every such company is to see that the laws and
statutes aro duly observed, and to take care that the
amount of paper issued do not exceed thevalue of the
mortgaged property which it is intended to represent.
A chamber of commerce, composed of nine members,
is created at Dijon. The statutes of several
insurance companies aro approved of, and a
new insurance company is authorised at Valence, in
the Drffine, for the purpose of insuring against the
failure of cocoons in the silk worm districts.
It would appear, from the following note in the
Moniteur, that the socialist scheme of taking the
whole insurance business of the country. into the
hands of the state has been under the serious con-
sideration of the government:
For some time past anxiety has been felt on the subjeetof
insurances, and a report has been spread that the government
intended to establish a general system of assurance by the
State. is its just solitude for everything rolatin2 to the
general interests of the country, the government
thought fit to comprise this question among those which it
directed to be studied. But after examination it recog-
nises the necessity of maintaining the present state of things.
Those private interests therefore that were alarmed at the
rumen' may be completely re-assured.
rAins, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
There exists in Paris a firm—MM. Loma and Co.,
whose professed business is to procure dramatic suc-
cess by. judiciously packing (a theatre with " cla-
gums," who steadily applaud a piece for a certain
number of nights, after which public enthusiasm is
accepted as a foie accompli. This firm recently mad*
a treaty with MM. Weerner, the directors of the
Ambigu, by which, in consideration of the sum of
8,0001. paid down, MM. Louat and Co. were to re-
ceive a certain number of tickets, at greatly reduced
prices, for the next two years, it being understood
that the persons admitted by these tickets would
systematically applaud the performance. At the end
of a month, however, M. Destroyer succeeded MM.
Wferner in the direction of the theatre. The
new management repudiated the contract with
MM. Louat, who thereupon brought an action
to enforce it. This action was dismissed by the Tri-
bunal of Commerce, upon the ground that a treaty,
the real object of which was to produce fictitious
applause in a theatre, must be ernsidered illegal and
contrary to public order. MM. Louat then sued MM.
Weerner, and M. Desnoyer, as their assignee, for
restitution of the 8,000 f., and tho French law not
going so far as the English, which will not allow
money paid for an iilegal purpose to be recovered
back they have succeeded in the latter suit.
I At the sitting of the Academy of Medicine, yes-
terday, M. Orfila read a letter, announcing that he
made a gift to the academy of 28,000 f., to found a
prize of 2,000 f. every two years, to commence in
1855. This prize is to be awarded alternately
.far
a question of toxicology, and fur some other subject
of legal medicine. If on any occasion the prize is
not given, the sum is to ho" 4,000 f. the next time,
and if once more held back, 6,000 f. the third time.
If that sum should also remain on hand, it is to be
paid over to the funds of the Association des Mgdi-
etas de In Seine, founded by M. Orfila. M. liC:mrd,
the President of the Academy, proposed that the
thanks of the body should be given to M. Orfila,
and that his name 'should be inscribed on one of the
marble tablets fixed up in the vestibule of the build-
ing, and bearing the names of persons who aro bene-
factors of the Academy. This twofold proposition
was Toted unanimously.