The Express.
London, England, 1851-07-08 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENI/(0.
At the banquet given by the City of Beauvais, in
returning thanks to the Mayor for proposing his
bealth, the President pronounced tho following
speech:

Gentlemen,—The honourable Mayor of Beauvais will 1
Mirdon me if I limit myself to a plain expression of thanks
for the liattering words which he has just addressed to me.
In replying to them I should be afraid of altering the mil-
pious character of this festival, which, by the commemo-
ration of a glorious feat accomplished in this city, offers a ,
high historical lesson. It is encouraging to think that in
extreme dangers Providence reserves often to a single being
the privilege of being the instrument of preservation for all,
and in certain circumstances has even chosen that instru-
snot from among the weaker sex, as if by the frailty of
the envelope to prove still better the empire of the soul
over human affairs, and to show that • cause does
not perish, when it has fur guides an ardent faith, an in-
spired devotion, a profound conviction. Thus, in the 15th cen-
buy,with a few years' interval, two women, obscure in origin
bat animated by the sacred tire, Jeanne &Are, and Jeanne
Hachette, appear at the most desperate moment to fulfil a
holy mission. The one has the miraculous glory of deliver-
ing France from a foreign yoke ; the other inflicts the shame
of retreat upon a prince, who, notwithstanding the splen-
dour and extent of his power was only a rebel wager of
civil wee. And yet to what do the actions of these women
reduce themselves ? They did no more than to ahow to the
French the path of honour and duty, and how tomareh in it
at their head. Similar examples ought to be honoured,
perpetuated. Accordingly I am happy to think
that it was the Emperor Napoleon, who, in IW,
reestablished the ancient usage, long interrupted, of cele-
brating the railing of the siege of Beauvais. I. or in his eyes
France was not a factitious country, born of yesterday,
maned in the narrow limits of • single epoch or a single
party: but she was the nation great by eight hundred years
eif monarchy, not less great after ten years of revolution;
labouring 'tor the fusion of all old and new interests, and
adopting ail glories without exception of time or of cause.
We have all inherited these sentiments, fur I ace here repre-
sentatives of all parties; they come with me to render ho-
mage to the warlike virtue of an epoch—to the heroism of a
woman. Let us drink • toast to the memory of Jeanne
Hachette.

It appears that the President has been satisfied
with the nature of his reception at Beauvais, and
somewhat consoled for the coldness of Poitiers and
the indignities of Chatellcrault. The telegraphic
despatch received from Beauvais this afternoon states
that the President was quitting the city at mid-day
amid signs of the warmest enthusiasm. It were to
be wished, for the success of his cause, that a spark
of thissympathy which has been evinced by the popu-
lation of the Norman city could be communicated to
the inhabitants of Paris, who have just allowed the
President's cohche to return along the Boulevards to
the Elysee ungreeted, save by here and there a cheer
to the Republic.
The chief subject of conversation to-day has been
the decidedly imperialist manifestation which was
mode by a portion of the population at Beauvais.
The cncs of " Vive l'Empereur !" were heard in
greater number, and uttered with more boldness
than on any occasion since the review of Satory, in
October last. The Assembly was a good deal agi-
tated to-day by the talk which prevailed on this
subject.
The committee on revision met this morning to
hear M. de Tocqueville's report, the reading ofwhich
lasted one hour and a half. The report seems destined
to give rise to vehement debates in the committee.
At the commencement of the sitting, the Minister of
the Interior ---- Juestioned ou the subject of the

was tp
petition movement.
In answer to the attacks of MM. Base and Char-
m, M. Leon Faucher replied that certainly he was
desirous of revision, but that he had done nothing to
give an impulse to the movement.
I understand that M. de Tocquevillc, in his re-
port, has limited himself to a digest of the debates
which had taken place in the committee, and kept
oat of bight his own peculiar views. The report is
expected to be presented in the Assembly to-morrow
at the day alter.
The eon iiii ittee on the Municipal Bill will hold an
extraorditiary bitting to-morrow, to consider the
propebil of the Minister of the Interior for the ad-
journment of the debate till the 21st inst.
The Assembly, in its sitting of to-day, adopted in
"accession several articles of the Mediterranean
Packets Bill.
In the

of the sitting M. Cassel,
who presented a petition against the unconstitutional
act of May, was called to order.
The President will visit Saumur in the middle of
August for the inauguration of the railway from
Angers to Nantes.
The Patric announced last evening that a serious
collision had occurred on the Lyons Railway, near
Tonnere ; that nearly all the carriages had been
upset, and that fifteen persons were so severely hurt
as to be obliged to remain at Tonncre. The:Von/ern:.
of this morning allays the alarm caused by this news,
stating that the accident VAIS nut attended with any
serious harm; several passengers had received con-
tusions, and the train was slightly delayed. The
accident was caused by collision with a locomotive,
whose driver was asleep.
The motion for proroguing the Assembly has been
approved by the committee on leaves of absence.
The prorogation will be proposed from the middle of
August.