The Express.
London, England, 1851-03-10 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 10, 1851.

MORE in sorrow than in anger we must say that
the intimation made by Lord Jolts Ressma. on Fri-
day, of the mode in which the financial business of
the session is to be proceeded with. has a most suspi-
cious air of taking advantage of the time lost by
" the crisis" to force upon parliament a budget ins-
proved in no material respects.
Lord Joint reminded the House of Commons that
the Mutiny Act will expire on the 26th of April,
on the eve of the Easter holidays ; and that
before a new mutiny bill can be introduced some un-
derstanding must have been come to respecting the
number of men to be voted for the sea and land ser-
vice. Lord lons, therefore, proposed to deal with
the navy estimates on Monday (to-day), to take up
the army and ordnance estimates on some early day
(not named), and to put off the CitvxcEtioll of the
EXCHEQUER'S statement of any modifications or altera-
tionsto be made on the budget till Friday the 21st
inst. By this arrangement the Commons will be
forced into voting the army, navy, and ord-
nance estimates as they stand, upon a hasty and
superficial examination ; and when they have done
this, Sir CHARLES WOOD will come forward and tell
them that, after such votes, it is impossible to make
any essential changes in the financial arrangements
for the year.
Now, it is admitted on all hands, that if extensive
retrenchments of c xpeuditurc are anywhere possible,
it is in the naval and military departments. If,
therefore, the House of Commons participate to any
extent in the indignation awakened out of doors by
Sir CitattLEs WOOD'S budget—if they have the
faintest intention to do their duty by their constitu-
ents they will make a stand upon the estimates, and
begin to-clay with the navy estimates.
According to an abstract prefixed to the estimates
the reduction on the total sum required to he voted for
the service of the navy in 1831-2 is 181,003'. After
the exposures made in the committee on these esti-
mates
this retrenchment appears to be insultingly
small, But small though it appear, it is less in
reality. It includes a sum of 0,7,21. (for the General
Register and Record Office of Seamen), which has
only been transferred to the accounts of the Board of
Trtide ; and in the estimates for the Post-office De-
partment, which is still prepared by the Admiralty,
and to subserve Admiralty purposes, there is an in-
crease of 5.1,232/. The actual saving for the year
shown on the estimates does not exceed 123,8611.
The total charge for the Post-office Packet Service
in 1830.1 was 76-1,236!. ; it is proposed to raise it to
309,4961. in 1831-2. The expense of QEEEN'S ves-
sels employed in the packet service in 1830-1 was
1:11,916/.; nn lff.ll-2 it is to be only 82,0711.; but
then the contract packet service of the year about to
terminate cost only 629,21 W., whereas that for the
ensuing year is to be 727,4231. Now, this distinction
between the QUEEN'S vessels and the contract vessels
employed in the packet service, is a rank juggle.
We published on Thursday last a correspondence be-
tween the Lords of the Admiralty and certain steam
companies employed in carrying the mails, relative
to the exclusion of iron steam ships from the con-
tract packet service. From that correspondence
it is apparent that the object principally kept
in view by the Admiralty when contracting
with these companies has been, not to ensure
the most swift, regular, and economical carriage of
the snails, but to keep in reserve, at the public ex-
pence, and without the public knowing anything of
the matter, an extra fleet of war steamers. Our
ocean mail carriage is less efficient and more expen-
sive than it ought to be, in order that the Admiralty
may maintain more vessels built for purposes
of war than the public would tolerate. This is
the secret of the extravagant contracts into which
the Admiralty has entered with the Ocean Steam
Navigation Companies, without the privity of parlia-
ment. And government has gained more by these
contracts than a clandestine augmentation of its
°lva! force: they have, in one instance at least,'
smoothed the way to the attainment of a seat in par-
liament by a government official, to say nothing of
the number of votes they may occasionally conciliate
in the House of Commons.
'Turning to examine the navy estimates, properly
SO called, the first thing that strikes us is an increase
of 1,323/. in the estimate fur the Admiralty-

works and repairs, and naval stores. These topics,
however, the length to which our remarks have
already run warns us to reserve for further dis-
cussion. a _ .

Enough hen been said to show that if the House of
Con:mons sincerely wish to amend Sir CHARLES
Woods budget they mast set to work in good
earnest this very evening.

FRANCE.

PARIS, SATCRDAY EVIVINO.

To-day the Assembly resumed its public sittings,
but its operations were confined to passing or reject-
ing a string of motions without interest. The main
subject of conversation was the resolution of the
government, which I announced yesterday, eon-
eerning, the elections of the national guard. AI. Baze,
a member of the committee on the bill for organising
the national guard, has been the person selected to
bring forward a motion which is composed of the
two following articles: "Art. I. The elections of
the national guard are suspended until after the pro-
mulgation of the definitive law on the organisation
of the public force. Art. 2. All the officers and sub-
officers of the national guard are maintained in their
functions."
The long-expected decree, making changes in the
appointments of prefects, appears in the Moniteur
of to-day. Twenty-one prefects ore changed, but of
this number only eight are removed from the pre-
rectorial rank, the rest being transposed to other de-
Cents. The The eight prefects dismissed are : M.
Prefect of the Tarn; M. Girand-Teulon. of
the llautes-Alpes ; M. Fresnean, of the Pas de
Calais; M. Jules Itousset, of the Loire; M. Dubois,
of the Haute-Loire; M. de Frossard, of the Var; M.
Sylvain Blot, of the Meuse; and M. Touret, of the
Seine et Marne. The persons promoted to the
rank of prefects are : NI de flamelike, Sub
Prefect of Boulogne, appointed prefect of the
Allier; M. de Seger. auditor to the Council of State,
appointed Prefect of the Arige; M. Dunoyer, secre-
tary-general of the Douches du lthone, appointed
Prefect of the Hautes-Alpes; M. Bret, old prefect,
appointed Prefect of the Loire; M. do Vidaillan, old
prefect, appointed Prefect of the Haute-Loire; 3L
Gustave de Romans appointed Prefect of the Var;
M. Lengle, Sub-Prefect of Valenciennes, appointed
Prefect of the Meuse ; M. Beequey, Sub-Prefect of
St. Etienne, appointed Prefect of the hen. It is
observed that the name of M. Itomien, the intimate
of the Elysee, which was expected to figure in
this list as Prefect of the Ilaute-Garonne,
is emitted. M. Veron is said to be furious
at the disappointment of those in whose favour he
had made applications, and has broken altoether
with the Elysee. M. Veron. as I understand, sug-
gested, on the occasion of his last interview with
the President. the prudence of keeping well with the
press, to which Louis-Napoleon replied, "Bali, la
presse sae prat rice
A skeleton, in a complete suit of rusty armour,
has been discovered in the hollow trunk of a secular
willow, near Perigueux. The fashion of the armour
is as old as the 13th century.

SUNDkT Evp'iso.
In the face of the strong opposition which has
been maniksted by the Assembly against the an-
nounced intention of the government to allow the
elections of the national guard to take place on March
25, according to the old law of universal suffrage, the
executive power appears to have paused, if not alto-
gether to have renounced its design. In fact, the
President could not have persevered in this course
without sacrificing his most able supporters. An ex-
traordinary meeting was held by the Club of the
Rue des Pyramides on Friday night, and a resolution
passed almost unanimously against the conduct con-
templated by the cabinet. At the same time three
members, MM. Iteugnot, Mathieu de la Itedorte, and
another, were deputed to communicate this result to
the Minister of the Interior, and to use all argu-

mcnts to dissuade the government from adopt-
ing so dangerous a course. These remon-
strances seem to have been attended with
some effect; for immediately after the deputation
had been received by the minister, a cabinet council was
assembled at the Elysee, and it was determined that
M. Waisse should immediately proceed to the com-
mittee on the National Guard Bill in order to cum-

municate the new resolution taken by the govern-
ment. Yesterday at two the president of the com-
mittee announced that the Minister of the Interior
desired to be bean!. Having been admitted after a
slight delay, M. Waisse began by complaining of the
publicity given to his previous answers, and of the
general alarm and agitation which had been the
consequence of noising abroad what had been com-
municated in confidence. A member of the com-
mittee answered that the Committee of Permanence
had been accused by the government or by its
friends of the seertsy and mystery which it pre-
served with regard to its debates, and was
attacked from the tribune by N. Lamartine
On this account. M. Waisse then sta:cd that the,
cabinet, in consequence of the ussurtince which it
had received that the report on the National
Guard Bill would he ready in 6 weeks or 2 months,
renounced the intention of causing the general elec-
tions to take place immediately. A member of the
committee then asked if, in consequence of the new
resolution of the cabinet, M. Wanes; was the bearer
of anv transitory bill. The minister answered " No."
Such`a bill appeared useless, as there was in the con-
stitution an article providing that functionaries
should remain in their posts wail they were re-
placed. " But," the committee asked, " could the
national guards be considered in the light of func-
. .

tionariesi'" On the other hand, the principle of
triennial elections being legally established, a law
was indispensable to authorise the adjournment. M.
Waisse himself had declared, at pirvmus sittings of
the committee, that the decree of the provisional go-
vernment had the force of law, and that the govern-
ment was bound to execute it. M. Waisse replied
that a fresh examination had convinced the mi-
nisters that the elections could be deferred without
danger. The minister was about to withdraw, when
one of the members rose, and exclaimed that
the committee could not consent to be bound by that
declaration that the elections could be adjourned
without the intervention of a law. To this M.
Waisse replied: "Well, do you keep your liberty,
and we will keep ours." ImmAliately after his with-
drawal, the committee, by a majority of 11 votes out
of 12, decided that a transitory law was indispensa-
ble, and should be presented. The following is the
form of the resolution: "The committee accepts with
satisfaction the declarations of the government, but
is ol'opinion that a transitory law is necessary."
The question now occurs by whom this law is to
be presented. The committee having calculated the
number of days strictly necessary to carry its bill
through the ('bomber, decided on giving the govern-
ment some days to choose whether it would under-
take the initiative of the transitory bill. If within.
that time it did nothing, presentee) no measure, it
was settled that the bill should be brought in by the
committee. This determination was immediately
communicated to the Minister of the Interior.
The government. in changing its resolution, has
been probably much influenced by the coldness and
indifference with which the announcement of its
first determination was received by the democratic
press.

The principal features of the Committee's Bill on
the National Guard are as follows: „The collards de
reernArtnrrot are chosen by the prefects, half in the
municipal council, half in the national guard; these
councils have full powers to draw up the lists, and
dispense from duty or service. The uniform is obli-
gatory in all towns of above 3,000 souls. Election
in two degrees is re-established for the officers from
the rank of captain. The heads of legions will be
also elected. Only the national guards under active
service will take part in the elections. Two years
of domicile are necessary to be inscribed on the rolls.
The cavalry is appointed or not at the option of the
councils-general. The artillery 6 suppressed except
in fortified towns and on the coast."
Admiral Vaillant, Minister of Marine, is. I hear,
appointed to the command of the West India sta-
non. for which he will start in a few days. .‘ilm;ral
Dupetit-Thouars. it 6 thought, will succeed him in
the ministry of marine.
Much di;content is manifested in diplomatic circles
with the tone latterly assumed by the Turkish go-
vernment in its negotiations with France. One of
I the main objects of French diplomacy has been, time
out of mind, to support the pretensions of the Roman
.1, catholic* in the East, no less against rival Christian
; st.ets than against Mussuboan fanaticism. Now. the
holy places in Palestine. and the sloines before which
Cluistian pilgrims meet from all quarters of the
East, have always been a subject of dispute between'