The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-18 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 18, 1851.

it would quickly cod in the overthrow of the chunk
might also bring down society in its ruins.

FRANCE.

rAitts, Turnsosy Evr.NING.
A council of ministers was held yesterday at the
Elysee, at which the President of the Republic pre-
sided. Couriers had arrived during the previous night
with important despatches from Vienna, and the coun-
cil was occupied with deliberating on the serious
question of the entrance of Austria with all her states
into the Germanic confederation. After an animated
.

discussion, it was decided that the French govern-
ment should renew its protests on the subject, but
without departing from the moderate policy which
it had adopted in concert with England.
The latest political event of any importance is the
new programme which I mentioned briefly yesterday
of the fusionist party in the Assenabke Yttinnal. It
is this party which sided with the legitimists in
voting against the motion of M. Cretan, and arc now
striving, with the ulterior view of restoring the
Bourbon monarchy, to conciliate to the Elysie the
support of M. Ben•vcr and his party. The fusionists
arc legitimists in tc.cory and Bonapartists in prac-
tice. They have a word for each of the three
dynastic parties; they say to the legitimists that them
is no monarchy for France but the monarchy of
the house of Bourbon; to the Orleanists that this
monarchy, in order to be true, must be complete;
and to the Bonapurtists that they will not shake the
sent under which France must for the present
shelter herself. The Union, however, gives a very
cold reception to these advances. The Josrnal des
Debals is quite silent ; so is the Opininn Pabligne.
The Messayer, inspired by 'M. Thienc makes a slush-
ing onslaught at the manifesto of this party, which,
indeed, has been long in existence, but only yesterday
put forth its views in an overt ar.d declareti. shape.
The Charienri of this morning
.has been seized.
The motive of this chastisement is a caricature re-
presenting a match at cross-bow-shooting. The butt
is the plaster head of a female, with " Constitution"
written on her brow. Louis Napoleon, seated with
his back to the spectator, is distnbuting arrows to a
group of marksmen, who arc easily recognised as the
grave Odilon Ilarrot, the bald round &troche, the
cravatted Vermin, the minute owl-like and spectacled
Thiers. The poor Constitution, hit already by two!
arrows in the neck and one in her brow, seems on
the point of falling, when M. Leon Faucher takes
aim. The President exclaims : " Cclui qni la rcn-
versem tout-i-fait sera mon ministre!" A portfolio
lies us prize nt the bottom of the pole on which the
bast is hung.
The funds continue to fall. To-day the Fives de-
clined .10 centimes, closing at 92.23. The Threes
closed at 56.95, with a fall of 30e.
The reports of the Patric that the Duke of Levis
is the beater of instructions from the Count of Cham-
bord, favorable to the prolongation of the president's
powers, and that M. de Falloux is coming to I'aris
to accept a seat in the cabinet, do not agree with the
intelligence which I receive from other well-informed
quarters. M. de Falloux has written two articles in
the Union Jr tOurst, of Angers, to prove that the
prolongation of the president's powers is one of the
most unsatisfactory solutions possible of the crisis of
t 5.52. _ _ _

_
The cstablishnient of several telegraphic-offices
about Paris begins to be attended with serious in-
conveniences ; for these oracles, csmducteil mostly by
stockjobbers and persons entirely ignorant of pli-
tical and diplomatic questions, deluge the public
with false alarms and worthless, or rather mischiev-
OUS. rumours. _ . . _ _

.....
M. Chupot, one of the secretaries of the Chamber,
has brought in a bill on the right of petition, which
merits notice, as it seems likely to be adopted. Ac-
cording to this system, at least one of the
signatures must be legalised by the mayor;
and the petition shall be considered null
and void if the authenticity of nil the signatures
be not guaranteed by some single petitioner, whose
signature has been attested bethre the mayor. If
any of the signatures of the petition be forged, the
peiSOn who becomes guarantee for their authenticity
is punished by a tine varying from 100 to 50(1 francs.
imprisonment for not more than six months, tow-'
ther with a fine out exceeding 204)fr., and depriva-
tion of civil and political rights for not more than
ten years, are the penalties imposed on the author of
a false signature.
The session of the Congress of Agriculture t
today.

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

THE KAFFIR WAR.

By the arrival of the Propmtis nt Plymouth we
are in p,isussion of tiles from Cape Town to the ith
of March, with news from Fort William, the head
quarters of Sir Harry Smith, to the 23rd of
February.
The main body under Sir Harry, about 4,000
strong, still remained at King William's Town, and
had only been partially occupied in riezzias against the
kraals of chiefs, and in tlirowing reinforcements into
the beleaguered ties. The most notable incident in the
news by this arrival is the recapture of Fort Arm-
strong from the Ilennanus rebels.
On the 30th of January Colonel Mackinnon (as
stated in our last accounts) succeeded in relieving
Forts White and Cox by throwing six weeks' provi-

sions into each.
Ou the 3rd February, the Commander-in-Chief hav-
ing received despatches from Gen. Somerset, issued a
proclamation, in which he referred to his proclama-
tion of martial law, calling upon the burghers to
MOVe against the enemy, and to assist in repressing
the rebellion of the Hottentots, who were making
common cause with the Kaflirs. Ile animadverted
upon the want of energy which had been manifested
on the part of the inhabitants of the frontier districts,
' many of whose families and properties would be in
consequence, if they were not already, at the mercy
of the insurgents. He then declared that the rebel-
lion would not be checked except by the assistance of
an efficient burgher force; and if it were allowed to
extend itself, the most mischievous results were to
be apprehended; and he called upon all loyal in-
habitants between the ages of 18 and 5 to place
themselves wider the orders of General Somerset for
the defence of their country. Ile expressed deep
regret at the apathy now for the first time mani-
fested by the burghers, remarking that in a month
scarcely one burgher had come to his aid; and he
declared that unless they now came forward, and as
he now confidently trusted they would, they alone
would be responsible for all the evils that would
ensue. - - _ _ . - . . .

On the afternoon of the 3rd of Feb. Lieut.-Col.
Napier, ('.M.lt., with a force of about 1,100 men of
Cape Corps, 73rd ltegt., and Swellendam and Gem-
dendal levies, proceeded to the Umgazini River, west
of Fort White, for the puma*: of intercepting Seyolo
in ease he should attempt to move into the Gaika
country. on Col. Mackinnon 's approaching his kraal
by the direct route. On the looming of the .Ith,
Col. Maekinnon with a three of 1,150 men of the
Cape Corps, 73rd ftegt., and ltiversdale and Albany
ley ics, and Fort Peddle Fingers, marched to Scyolo s
kraal on Lino 1/rift, without opposition, and de-
stroyed it. He then joined Lieut.-Col. Napier who
had reported a large body of Kaffirs in the neigh-
bourhood, but upon the two forces joining the enemy
retired, and the lateness of the hour did not permit of
pursuit.
On the sth, the whole division proceeded to
the Prophet tiolungeni's kraal. The Kaffirs at the
kraal at first drew up in considerable numbers as if
intending to offer sonic opposition; they, however,
dispersed on the approach of the troops. who then
proceeded to the kraal situate on the keiskamma, a
few miles below Line Drift. The kraal was dcstrovcsl,
and a party of the Cape Corps and lingoes were de-
spatchcd in pursuit of the cattle; they returned late,
having captured about MOO head. On the Ittli inst.,
Col. Mackinnon returned to King William's Town.
On the 7th, the following general order was issued
on the receipt by tit:* Commander-in-Chief of Col.
Mackinnon's report :
. „