The Express.
London, England, 1851-11-12 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 12, 1851.

better regulated system which would not only infuse I
more spirit into the vouoger branches, but give the •
nation a more talented and able set of general offi-
cers? The position of a general officer is one of re-
sponsibility, requiring great bodily activity and
energy ; but it is not every man entering the army
who has the seal to renderlimseff fit for such dutitu
nor is every man of a sufficiently strong constitution
to obtain such a position by his own exertions. It
is, therefore, a most complacent idea, that if sus first
buys a commission and lives long enough, taking
one's ease and applying for as mush leave as can he-
obtained in the meanwhile, that when one reaches
an old age the public as well u oneself can be Un-
posed upon by the title of general. But there are
generals who have conquered their way up the list
in every clime and field, and there are generals who
have obtained their rank by belonging to a club
in town, and frequenting the omnibus box at the
opera.
It has been well said that no man will cheerfully
do his duty unless he has the prospect of future re-
ward for his services; but surely such rewards should
be given to those who have rendered themselves de-
serving of them, and not to the first comer. Would it
be always prudent to confide the command of ten
thousand men, more especially in the field, to an offi-
cer who has no other title to such a command than
seniority? If in Austria and l'russia seniority
obtains promotion from colonel to general command-
ing an army, it is because, in these highly aristocratic
countries, it was requisite that the government should
not cause discontent amongst a powerful upper class by
showing a preference which, however right in itself,
would be often contested, and be used as pretexts for
dangerous rivalries. In England, however, there is
no such excuse ; but there is that deep-rooted spirit
'of hatred to innovation, that however the justness
and practicability of such a change were clearly
shown, those in office would prefer the humdrum
method of advancement by seniority alone.
When some years ago complaints were made of the
brevet promotion, there was an ever ready answer,
that every man had served during the war, and that
as he had lost his health or limbs in the country's
service, it mould he but fair to reward him ; but tfiat
generation is passing by, and the captain who has
trod the passes of Afghanistan or slept in the
bush, is included in the same general list for pro-
motion with the man who has been yachting at
Malta or dancing at Almack's, as long as his commis-
sion dates the same year. Could anything be more
absurd? Yet what purpose does this brevet of 1831
fulfil? Does it satisfy the old officers? No; for the
present men in office, such as the general command-
ing at Portsmouth, the Inspector-General of Ca-
valry, the Commanding officer of Artillery in Ire-
land, all lose their positions by the promotion, and the
fresh number of Colonels made Generals, are so few
and so much of the same age as the present general
officers, that they admit of but little choice to fill
the vacant appointment. Does it clear the
way for younger men ? No; for it must be
remembered that the only step which gives the army
' promotion are those regimental full colonels who are
made major-generals, and who in the present in-
stance amount to but nine or ten • ten steps in an
army of sonic hundred and fifty thousand men, two
only of which arc in the corps of the line, is a drop
of water in the ocean. In the Ordnance corps, the
system of brevet promotion has hail the judicious
effect of giving them an older race of field officers
than they possessed in 1840, when it was considered
necessary to have a select committee to inquire how
their promotion could be improved. The general
officers commanding battalions were then about 70
years of age, just the age of the two colonels of ar-
tillery promoted to unattached major-generalship.
If the ministry intended to have introduced a better
regulated system of promotion, this brevet is too
much ; hut if not, then it is a mere farce, placing our
army in the same position that it wns in 1793, the
list of general officers being a mere honourable pen-
sion list, and a dead letter in time of emergency.

Conflicting cries from all parts of the house crossed
each other, among which erica of "Call the Presi-
dent to order" were frequently heard. M. Unpin
attempted to speak, but his voice was drowned by
the noise.
During this time M. Thorigny remained in the
tribune. At length he resumed. He said that he
would continue in the calm and dignity of his eon-
sckorie to pursue the course which he had followed
throughout his life. He persisted in the admission
that an agent of the authorities had not acted ac-
cording to his date' at Commentary, bdt, in his
opinion, M. Sortie had also much to reproach him-
self with. He should vote against the inquiry. M.
de Therigny terminated by saying that he was re-
solved to cause order and the law to be respected.
M. Jules Fevre, quoting the words of M. Thorigny,
maintained that legality was on the side of the guests
essailed by the gendarmes, and developed the right
of resistance to such attacks. For himself and his
friends, they, in similar circumstances, would cause
the law to he respected in such a way as men of
spirit ought to do.
M. I)aviel said that the house where the dinner
was given was nothing else but a public-house, for
which a license hut actually been taken out. He
protested against the doctrine of M. Jule-. Fano.
The gendarmes had acted under an order of the pre-
fect, and ought not to be so bitterly reproached, es-
pecially as no one was hurt. The order of the day,
pure and simple, was carried by 491 agninst 22M.
M. Leon Faucher then gave some explanations re-
lative to an accusation that he had concealed some
documents relating to the affair. lie maintained that
functionaries who struggled on behalf of the law,
had need to be defended, instead of being discou-
raged and disavowed.
M. C. Giraud said that, notwithstanding the elec-
toral law, the cabinet was devoted to the policy of
order and conservatism.
M. Daru next ascended the tribune, and read the
report on the proposition of the cabinet to abrogate
the electoral law of the 31st May, 1810. The com-
mittee, he said, had deeply regretted to differ in
opinion on that question with the executive
.power.
It considered that in order to allay the legitimate
uneasiness excited by the proposition in the country,
it should not leave it an instant uncertain relative to its
intentions. The law of the 3lst May was a political act,
the consecration of a principle eminently just. It was
a moral law. The Assembly had not the pretension
of having solved all the difficulties attending the re-
gulation of universal suffrage. It might modify and
amend that law, but it could not disown the principle
that had dictated it. Its repeal would deprive the
cause of order of one of its most valuable guarantees.
The country anxiously lo;ked forward to the future,
and was disposed to accept prudent modifications, but
spurned to make concessions to the spirit of revolt,and
to subscribe to a desertion of principle. Were the
demagogic demonstrations, which the government
invoked in favour of the measure, not vain apprehen-
sions, the Assembly could not even then becomingly
yield in presence of such menaces. It would be one
of those acts of weakness more likely to produce, than
avert, perils. The moral authority and the confidence
the great powers of the State should enjoy would be
sadly shaken by a concession exacted by the fearof dan-
ger. M. lbaru then entered into a long cindicationof
the law of the 31st of May, which pronounced no un-
just exclusion, but merely established a moral dis-
tinction between the domiciled and non-domiciled

citizens. The committee could not consequently ac-
cept the government bill, which was Lased on a con-
trary principle. It consequently proposed to reject
it altogether.
The discussion was subsequently fixed for Thurs-
day, after which the Assembly adjourned at a quar-
ter past six o'clock.
It is said that interpellations will bo put to the
ministry on the subject of the President's address to
the officers of the garrison. The point which will be
mooted in this document is the meaning of the clos-
ing sentence, " I march; follow mc." It will be
assumed that the meaning attached to this phrase by
the President is a literal one, and inconsistent with
the 50th article of the constitution, which interdicts
the President from commanding the army in person.
General Lamorieicre, it is thought, will take this
occasion to demand by what right the President
wears the epaulettes and uniform of a general of the
national guard. The royalists of both branches are
greatly irritated at the taunt addressed by Louis
Napoleon to the governments that preceded him,
but particularly the orleauists, who recall the ser-
vices rendered by land and sea by the sons of Louis
Philippe, the feats of Joinvillo in Morocco and
Mexico, the campaigns of the Duke d'Aumale in
Algeria, and the popularity of the Duke d'Orleans
with the army. (hi the whole it is thought that the
President has decidedly alienated many wavering
adherents by this injudicious sarcasm at the fall of
the government of the restoration and the monarchy
of July.
'rho Opinion Publique expresses much regret that
the constitution, when it took care to prevent the
President from placing himself at the head of the
troops, did not also interdict him from haranguing
them.

An address to the electors of the Seine by the
Electoral Union is posted up tc-t:ay in Paris and the
banlieue. It invites the electors, in the name of the
party of order, to make a good choice in the appoint-
ment of their representative, as a bud one might
endanger the interests of the Christmas and New
Year's trade, which is so important to the middle
classes at I'aris.

The democratic party affect much indifference
about the fate of the luestors' bill, wishing probably
to make conditions with the government for their
support in this critical emergency. M. de la
Guerronniere, in an article in the Pays, draws an
ingenious comparison between the situation which
might ensue from passing the questor's bill with that
which existed before the 10th of August in 1792,
when there were three armies in the field, the royal-
ists. the parliamentary troops, and the army of the
faubourgs, commanded by llcnriet and Nanterre.

The electoral meeting of the Democratic Socialist
Committee last night declined to proceed to business,
in consequence of the intru'ion of a commissioner
and several agents of the police. The chairman ob-
served to the commissioner that the meeting was
perfectly legal, and that under the predecessor of the
present prefect, it had been the practice for the
police merely to report the fact that the meeting was
that of an electoral committee, and not to be present
at the sittings. 'f he commissioner of police said he would
not discuss the matter, but that he intended to re-
main. Upon this the committee unanimously re-
solved that they could not freely deliberate in the
presence of the police, and the meeting at once se-
parated.
An address to the electors will be sent to tho de-
mocratic socialist journals as soon as the leaders of
the party shall have agreed upon the course to be
taken. 'There can be but little doubt that the mass
of the ultra-republicanswill abstain from voting, upon
tho ground., etatcd iot 'lac following cadres,, which
has been published by the rich jeweller of the Rue
ltichelieu, M. Croce Spinelli, and others :

The undersigned members of the bureau of the former
committee of tradesmen, manufacturers, proprietors, and
workmen, seeing the decree of the ith instant convoking
the electoral colleges of the department of the Seine to
elect • representative of the people ; con,idering that the
constitution says:—Art. 1. The sovereignty resides in the
universality of French eititsms ; it is unalienable and ua-
pretcriptib!e. No individual, no fraction of the people can
assume the exercise of it. Art. 24. The suffrage is direct
and universal. Art. 23. All Frenchmen aged 21, and en-'!
joying their civil and political rights, are electors, without
any condition of tax-paying; considering that the law of
the 31st May, in striking off two-thirds of the electors of the
department of the Seine, has in !let annihilated universal
suffrage, declare that they will abstain from taking part is
the election of November 30.—Peru, 9th Nov., 1851.
(Signed) Croce Spinelli, E. Breton Metier, H. Mosier,
Duleau Coute.

A general meeting of republican members of the
parliamentary opposition will be held at Lemarde-
lay's rooms this evening.
M. de Sibert de Cornillon, director of criminal
affairs in the ministry of justice, is appointed secre-
tary-general of thut department.
General Cavaignee is to marry Mdlle. Odier,
daughter of the banker of that name. The lady is
salt' to possess a fortune of one million.
The President visited to-day the General Post-
office, and took a minute survey of the whole

A portion of the garrison is daily exercised in the
Champ de Mars in firing cannon and musketry. The
President appeared 3 esterday at the first of these re-
views, which are to be continued during the week.
Severaldecorations were distributed.

The Minister of the Interior yesterday attended
the committee of parliamentary initiative, diarged

to examine the proposition of the questoru of the
Amiably. M. do Thorigny manifested his surprise
at the presentation of the proposition, which had
I= in his opinion to justify it. He was aster
that it should have been brought forward at
a *he* of such perfect tranquillity, when nothing
elan Ind one to foresee circumstances which might
pine the Assembly under the necessity of providing
Dar lb safety. He said that the recess had passed over
without any incident or disturbance, and alluded to
the declaration of the permanent committee that
everything was perfectly tranquil. The Minister
afterwards examined the character of the proposi-
tion, and dwelt on its unconstitutionality. He quoted
several articles of the constitution to show that the
proposition was opposed both to its letter and its
spirit. He showed them, that admitting that the
Assembly was threatened so seriously as to find itself
placed in the position provided for by the con-
stitution to call in troops for its security, it
would have the right to appoint the general
charged with the command of them. lie formally
declared that the whole government would
stand on the ground of legality, that it would
never depart from it, and that it was in respect
for its duties that it would find its strength. lie
added, however, that, if the government was well
informed, it considered the proposition of the qucs-
tors as attacking the President of the Republic on
the very ground of legality. M. Thorigny con-
cluded his remarks by
.protesting his firm resolution
to defend the constitutional right of the President at
the Republic, whenever ho should consider it threat-
ened; and that, in consequence: he should oppose

with all his might, the proposition of the que'Stors,
and leave to the authors of the proposition the re-
sponsibility of the consequences which might result
from it. After these explanations the committee
separated until four o'clock, when it again met,
but after a warm discussion again separated, without
coming to any resolution.
Yesterday, in the committee on the electoral law,
M. de 'llorigny renewed the arguments of the mes-
sage in favour of the new bill, and maintained that
continued residence for six months was quite enough,
as that was the term admitted by the civil law for
marriage. M. de 'fhoripy said finally that the
government would eause to be respected the law
vsted by the Assembly.
At the Bourse the Pive per Cents. fell 5c., closing
at 90.45; the Threes rose toe., closing at 55.80.