The Express.
London, England, 1851-06-24 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY Evimixo.
The uppermost subject in the public mind is one
which is inscribed on the Assembly's order of the
day,—regulation of the right of petition. I have ex-
plained, in previous letters, M. Chapot's bill for the
legalisation of signatures, and the interdiction of
women and minors. The absolute necessity of purg-
ing from abuse, fraud, and distortion, so pogsaerb-
tical instrument, is the more deeply im on
every thinking mind, as the two great questions of
the day, revision and electoral reform, arc at this
moment receiving their first impulse from the moving
force of petition. The Assembly is beginning to
show di.tpuet, umbrage, and alarm, at the swelling
tide of the collective popular bidding, which rises
like a se a against their doors, threatening to sweep
down all obstruction to its flow. Nine hundred
thousand signatures, in round numbers, have been i
counted at the foot of the petitions for revision, of
which sixty thousand are crosses, symbols of
the unlettered wish. The petitions against
the law of May are scarcely less numerous or
less numciously signed. l 4 copies of the peti-
tion, signed in the office of the TOnablique by up-
wards of twenty thousand, and presented on Saturday
by M. Lament, arc to be followed by 663 other co-
pies, signed at other points of the capital and hardiese.
Each party rallies its adherents round the standard
of petition before the decisive struggle comes; each
department sends up its list of numbers and names,
hinting to the respective representatives what they
base to expect at the next elections if their votes
gainsay the wish of the majority. The Assembly re-
monstrates in the rmtb.irs, the sitlwaN, and the press
aguit.st the external pressure brought to bear on it to
di-termite. its &Lis' . The representative* protest
agaitet the stress turned against them, like a strong
wind. to bear down their consciences, force their
tend, nines, and violate their independence. They
bno: out into blame Nohow the ambition of the ex-
ccuti..- on one hand, and the greed of the socialists
on the other. They complain that a minority of the
nation nuts itself forward es erifh.ncr to force their
will on the unpetitioning majority. In the mean-
time a'.l agree that petition is the tegioning of revo-
lution.
Ile .!ce the importance attached to the bill of M.
Chaps for 1111 l king petition a clearer and more exact
Index of public opinion, and attaching a legal re-
sponsibility to the exercise of a right used for such
great cods.
in the siting of the Assembly, M. Mathieu de la
att eked the bill of M. Chapot as a new law
of compression. lle of jceted in particular to the ex-
elusi 111 l :of women and nittiors,as a provision unworthy
the liberality of the age, and Whiled from barbarous
times. After M. Iffavoyer had spoken in favour of the
bill, M. Emile de Girarelin attacked with great energy
the right of petition, which name dangerous revolution-
ary instrument lodged in the hands of the executive
power. Ile described the zeal of public functionaries
in wen king this engine; and quoted the circulars of
prefects and sob-pretests distributed throughout the
country to serve the ends of the government through
ixfitions, which were taken from house to house by
inhatins and agents of the public force. 't he only
way to stop the evil would be to suppress the right
of petition alien..Hier. Ile drew attention also to
the mode in which sub-prefects, by their flattering
pwt• and exaggerated representations of the po-
pularity lionatortism, and the enthusiasm of the
poplc fipr the name of Napoleon. deceived the Pre-
sident 41 the Republic., and stimulated the deplorable
ambition of a isdiey founded on delusion and error.
M. Quentin Hauchart, following M. theardin, with-
out paying the least notice to his arguments, sup-
ported the bill. The Assembly decided on passing
to a second deliberation. The remainder of the
sitting was nut signalised by any incident of im-

portance.
The Uniwt, generally very measured in its opposi-
tion, contains to-slay a strong protest against the
petitionist movement, which it calls " a flagrant
indication of the intention manifested in high regions
to exercise a pnssure not only moral but direct upon
the majority. It calls on the Assembly to assert its
independence by a formal vote.
In the beginning of the sitting, M. Marichal, de-
signated by the 310111.ielir us the person whom M.
Testelin had accused, in the midst of noise on Satur-
day, of having pronounced in dubs the expressions
stigmatised by Audren du Kcrdrel, rose to protest
against the accusation. M. Testelin stated in expla-
nation, that he had not alluded to M. Marichal the
representative, but to M. Marche', tried lately before
the court of assizes for rape, editor of the Anti tits
Peuple, a newspaper subsidized by a member of
the majority. Several voices called upon M.
Testeliti to name the member in question,
but that representative said if any one would ask
him that question in private, he would reveal the
person to whom he alluded. M. Dupin called M.
Testelin to order, assigning as the :reason that his
words implied a challenge. 'Die reprimanded metn-
ber protested against this interpretation, but the
president maintained tho call to order.
The committee on the As ignon Railway has main-
tained its previous resolution, rejecting the proposals
of the several companies, and recommending the
provisional execution by the state both of the line
from Chalons to Lyons and of the line from Lyons to

Avignon.
The committee on the Municipal Bill terminated
to-day the examination of the bill on councils of
prefecture. It decided that the doyen of the coun-
cillors should be dr fare vice-president of the coun-
cils of prefecture, and that the list of candidates fur
seats in the councils should not be permanent. The
committee adopted, without debatc,the rest of the bill.
The D,,Lorts has made to-day, perhaps uncon-
sciously, an anaemic honorable to the President fir
the violent attack it contained against the Dijon
speech. M. Michel Chevalier, in claiming the atten-
tion of the Assembly for measures of relief towards
the 'working classes, confesses that the President
seems animated by the best intentions in this respect.
M. Chevalier advocates warmly the doctrines of
free-trade. and contrasts the retrograde commercial
policy of France with the development of England.
The ultra-montane party take occasion of the Fete
Dieu to complain, that ever since 1830 the religious
procession through the streets, always performed
previously with great pomp, has been prohibited;
and that the clergy have been confined rigorously to
the interior of the churches for the celebration of all
religious ceremonies.
In many departments private associations of volun-
teers are forming to assist the troops in case of an
meats, and cut off the moveable columns of insur-

gents.
The President is to dine with M. Leon Faucher on
Wednesday. This is the first of a series of cabinet
dinners given by the ministers in rotation, at which
Lows Napoleon will be present.
The Mcneiteur contains a statement of the duties
levied upon imported merchandise during the month
May, 1951. The total amount is 9,072,404 f. The
esereepunding amount for 1850 was 10,301,931 E, and
for 1849, 10,428,411 f. As compared with either of
the latter years, the present year presents, therefore,
a falling off of more than a million of francs for the
import duties of the month of May. The diminution
is chiefly on colonial sugar. cotton, and wool. The
total amount of import duties levied during the first
five months of 1851 is 43,498,619 f. The correepond-
lag amount for 1830 is 47,147,270 E, and for 1849,
0,320,318 f.
A fresh review of the 2nd division of the army
et Paris, commanded by General Guillabert, will be
held by the President to-morrow in the Champ de
Mars.
M. Cabal, the Icarian, surrendered himself pri-
soner on Saturday, in order to take his trial on the
charges of swindling, for which he has been con-
aeodemned by default.
The funds continue to improve. The Fives closed
M 95f. 15e., with a rise of 25 centimes. The Threes
rose lie. and closed at 53E 95c.

. . SPAIN.

MADRID, Jose It.
The Gazette of to-day contains the dismimal of
D. Javier de Cabestany, Governor of Seville, sal the
appointment in his place of D. Fernando Almeas
Is Sotarnayor, late governor of Granada. The rims.
9f this dismissal is the defeat of the ministry in the
elections of &Ale, which returned Cordes r new
bet to the Cortes. Cortina had previously island
his intention to retire from political life t bet be wee
induced by the instances of his friends to swept cuss
more the charge of deputy. In doing so be dips.
laced that ho should not be called upon to Mai on•

treme doctrines of the liberal party, of which he is
now regarded as the most moderate.
The parliamentary day has passed in the bureaux,
or sections, as they are here called, where the mem-
bers of the committee for the settlement of the debt
are being appointed. The ministerial candidates
have triumphed in all the sections, excepting the
first, which has not yet completed its election. Tidal
is striving might and main to procure the election of
1). Milian Alonso, whose motion in the last session
was the means of breaking up the Cortes in so sud-
den and unexpected a manner.
I The disclosure of "

in the sitting of

yesterday, respecting the violation of private corres-
pondence by one of the ministers, receives on immense
echo out of doors. Barsanallana is a member of the
moderado opposition. Cris, an employg of the
government, of an influential family in the
district which has returned Barzanallana to
the Cartes, exerted himself to promote the elec-
tion of the latter. In the course of the canvass, Cris
addressed a letter to Barzanallana, enclosing another
from his own brother, which laid hero the exertions
of the Cris family to procure the election of an
enemy of the government. But this letter, instead
of reaching its destination, was brought to 1). Manuel
llertran de Lis, Minister of the Interior, who read
the letter of Cria to Berzanallana, and then the
enclosure. Ile immediately sent fur Cria ; mid I
having reproached him for canvassing in favour
of a member of the opposition, intimated that
perseverance in such a course would be pu-
nished by his dismissal. I:via asserted his
independence, and resigned his post. The unfor-
tunate feature in the affair, as regards the minister,
lice in the clumsiness of the disculpation. Bertrau
de Lis denied having broken the seal of the outer
envelope, but his denial was contradicted by the tes-
timony of the eye-witness to whom lie appealed, 1).
Bonifazio de Cordova, an aged clerk. who brought
his correspondence. Ile then said that Uria had not
been dismissed in CollSeflllellee of the disclosures of
the letter, but of the results of the interview. These
statements were received with a perfect storm of
disapprobation from all parts of the house. Yet, had
Sartonus been called upon to answer a similar charge,
his superior tact and plausibility would no doubt
have broirAt him elf tnuipliantly.
At the close of the bitting, after the explanation
of Bravo Murillo, lkrr.,udez de Castro witharew
his motion of censure against ministers. A vote of
confidence was then proposed, signed by Gour.ales
Bravo.

The Duke of Mess has resigned his post as Vice
President of the Senate, to go into opposition. The
Marquis of &menu:los has been appointed in his