The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-05 00:00:00

To THE DEPAKTMEN T

Citirens,—The Republic is in danger. In presence of
the intrigues of the royalists—in presence of the concealed
working of religious societies—in presence of the insolent
defiance of Louis Napoleon, and the exterminating prepa-
rative' of the government—in presence of the enminal

cowardice et a beat part of the clerks of the people—in
presence of the slavery into which the republican press has
fallen—in presence of the persecution whie% weighs on the
democrats, and the starvation compact which is sworn to
aad pursued with fury against the working elasses—people
of the ,orkshops, inhabitants of the country, what ought
you to do ? Some say to you, " Suffer all to the end, and
allow it to pass over;' others say, " I'repare your scythes
and your carbines; the moment is come to raise
your heads." Which of these two versions ought you
to follow ? To wait any longer is to fall into the snare
which our enemies have laid for us; it is to give them time
to forge fresh irons for us—it is to allow the fusion to ope-
rate—to allow democracy to exhaust itself in consumption
and enervation. No, no; no more waiting. There has
been enough cowardice and treason. There are Pie days
marked by Providence to be also days of emancipation and
of justice. We are on the eve of that day when Iron one
end of France to the other one will alone should unite us,
one cry alone be heard—" Immediate restitution of the
rights of the people; complete annihilation of the libertieide
law of the 31st May !" Let the voice of the 'work, there-
fore, make itself heard imposingly and energetically in each
locality. To the universal eryof "A has la loi du it Mai!"
be mingled the cry of " -ire la Wpiabliquo Democratique
et Socials !" Salut et Fratemiti.—Le Comiti Central de
itksistanee.

A certain number of copies had already been dis-
tributed, some of which were seized in the commune
of the Ratignolles.
One of the printers arrested is a press-corrector of
a democratic paper, and the type used is said to have
been abstracted from the offivs: of that paper.
It was yesterday stated to be certain that a move-
ment is to take place on Sunday evening; it was
added that the signal agreed on was the moment of
discharging the fireworks; but what is not doubtful
is that
,the greatest precautions have been taken.
Access to the towing paths will be completely in-
terdicted to the public, and they will be oceapied by
troops who will have their arms loaded.
To-day the Assembly renewed the debate on the
Western Railway. l'he line by Menem; was re-
jected by 411 to 181. The outhne of the bill is as
follows:

The Minister of Public Works is authorised to make to
MM. Veto, Betts, Brussey, beach, Fox, Henderson, and
Stokes, a direct concession of the Western Ilsilway from
Versailles to Itennes. The said company is to work the
Versailles (Left Bank) line on the terms agreed to on No-
vember 12, 1850. The two Versailles lines are to be united
together by the said company, a subvention of 5.50,000 f.
being accorded to it by the government for the purpose.
The said company is to pay into the treasury a sum of 12
millions in three equal parts in 1851, 18-32, and 1853; also,
three millions for the works executed by the state on the
section between Le Maas and Laval ; and three millions for
the works on the line from Paris to Cam by La Loupe.
The state gives up to the company, in three months
after the date of the concession, the line front Versailles
to Chartres; the works in courm of execution for the
terminus on the Boulevard Mont-Parmesse. at Paris;
and the goods' stati .n at Vaugirard ; also the stationary
and moveable stock in the condition in which they may hap-
pen to be at the time; the value of the store, of coke, char-
coal, metals, and other articles; employed on railways shall
be paid for to the State at a valuation. The company is tc
execute or complete all the stations between Versailles and
Chartres. The state is to deliver over the section from La
Loupe to Le Mans in three years ; that from Le Mans to
Laval in three years after, and that from Laval to Bennet,
in foar years after that time, the works on the said sections
being properly executed by the state. The company on its
side engages to construct the various stations between
Chartres and Rennes, to be completed within as period of
ten years ; also to lay down the iron way, and furnish
all kinds of stock for the working. A double line
of rails is to be laid down between Versailles
and La Loupe, but on the section between La Loupe
and Beatles a single rail is permitted until such time
us the gross receipts amount to 18,000 fr. per kilometre.
The company engages to work the section between Chartres
and 1,4 Loupe within the space of one year. The third-elase
carriages on all parts of the line are to be covered in and
provided with glass windows. All repairs on the way or in
locomotives or carriages are to he at the charge of the cont.
pang. The length of the concession in consideration of the
works to be executed by the company is to be 99 years, the
company paving to the state, before taking possession, a sum
of three millions to meet the value of the stuck made over
to it by the state, and two millions to serve as caution-
money, which will be repaid when the company can show
that it has executed works to that extent: the said sum to
be pail' for by the state at the rate of four per cent. interest.
The company also engages to pay back to the state, in sixty
annual payments, the sums due by the Versailles (Left
Bank) railway, 5,000,000 fr. ; and, on its side, the state
cuanr."l to guarantee to the company during the first 50
rears of its concession an interest of four per cent. on a sum
nut exceeding 43 millions.

The poi Tit at which the discussion was resumed
was whether the railway to Caen should pass by Evreux
or AlerKon. M. Darn spoke in favour of thZAlencon
line. He said that this opinion of a member of the
committee was a purely personal one, which engaged
neither the government nor the assembly ; but it was
just and useful, even while leaving the question en•
tire, to notice the offer of three millions made by the
company of the west. M. Thiers advocated the line
of Erma, on the grounds of the defence of the
coast, of the general interest, the interest of travel
lers, the interest of the southern part of Normandy,
at the expense of which Caen wanted to absorb the
privilege of the whole provisionment. M. Gustave
de Beaumont replied to M. Thiers. The question
having then been put to the vote, the Assembly re-
jected the Alencon line by 441 against 181.
Thus the offer of three millions made by the Eng-
lish company- for the line to Caen by Alencon,
favour of which the committee decided, has been re-
jected by the Assembly, which has thereby implicitly
given its vote in favour of the line by Evreux. The
consequence will be the loss to the company of the
traffic of Lower Normandy, to which it seems to
have attached great importance.
The Assembly then proceeded to vote some articles
of the cahier deg charges, which had been reserved
yesterday, and whidi were devoid of interest. The
bill will be adopted to-day on the second reading.
Only a few insignificant articles remain to be voted.
Tim discqssion of the Railway Bill was interrupted
by interpttations addressed to the government on the
following subject : The atuniertir hang copied from
the Pairie a paragraph which charged two repre-
sentatives of the Mountain with being privy to the

:a, MAY 5, 1851. '''

- -
print. imi of the seditious bulletins Issued from the
clandestine p seized yesterday by the police, MM.
i Joly and Schee her demanded to nterpellate the go-
vernment upsn this defamatory libel inserted in its
official organ. M. Leon Faucher declared, in the
name of the government, that subsequently to the
seizure of the clandestine press, and after the arrest
of several persons had been: effected in the
course of yesterday, a judicial investigation
into the affair had , been ordered, on the
of which, for the present, it was his
Erie:observe silence. As to the paragraph copied,
in the Moniteur the government had no control over,
what appeared in the Unofficial portion. M. Joly
protested against the foul calumnies heaped in the
government press upon the party to which he be- I
longed, and reproached the ministry for not prose-
toting such infamous libellers of the representatives
of the people. The terrorists were not of the demo-
cratic party, but of the side which had published Le
Spectre rouge. M. Schceleherspokc in the same sense,
and declared that whoever accused the Left of the
' Assembly of the least participation in the incendiary
bulletins was a foul slanderer. The Assembly passed
to the order of the day.
' A debate of some importance took place yesterday
in the bureaux on the occasion of appointing the
committee of initiative fur the month of May. You
are aware that M. Moulin has presented a proposi-
tion for referring motions on the revision of the
constitution to a special committee. In the mean-
time it may come to pass that such motions follow-
ing the usual course will be referred to the coin-
,
mince of initiative. It became, therefore, a matter
of importance to know how the candidates stood
affected to the great question. M. Chapot having
made this observation in the ninth bureau, M.
Desmousseaux de Givre said that if a majo-
rity of three-fourths could be got to vote the revision,
he would join them with all willingness, but that
he should certainly oppose the idea of voting the re-
vision by a simple majority, as such an attack upon
the constitution might expose that majority to a
pressure that would make it enter on a fatal course.
M. de Kerdrel, member for the department of Ile-et-
Vilaine, a thorough-going legitimate royalist, made
small account of the notion that the revision would
not be voted by three-fourths of the assembly ; he
declared that such a measure was of vital necessity,
and that every party that opposed it would nun
itself in the opinion of the country. lie was for a
i total revision, being satisfied that } ranee would ne-
ver recover her prosperity or order until her
institutions were completely changed. M. de
Kerdrel attacked the opinions of the socialists in
favour of the republic, asking them how they could
wish to maintain a republic which denied all their
principles. MM. de Kerdrel and Labordere, who
echoed his opinions and was in favour of total re-
vision, were chosen members of the committee, which
consists of thirty. In another bureau M. lierryer de-
dared that in his opinion unconstitutional proposi-
tions ought to be set aside, but that those that were
constitutional might be taken into consideration.
Besides the two above-named, the other members
chosen were : M. de Nlortemart, M. Lesperut, M. de
Castillon, M. Beugnot, M. de Bloomy. M. Fourtoul,
M. Langlais, M. nufougeroux, M. ltiche, M. de
Charenccy, M. Collet, M. de Melun (du Nord), M.
Thomines lksonazures, M. Laurent (de PArdeche),
M. Brehat, M. Moulin, M. do Ladoucette, 31.
Coquerel, M. Quentin Bauchart, M. Ibusbray, M. do
Limayrac, M. Lecomte (de l'Yonne), M. %act, M.
Poujoulat, M. Vesin, M. Frichon, M. l'ierre Leroux,
and M. Chammin.

SUNDAY Evaxiso, 7 P
The 4th May has chanced upon weather as dismal,
cold, and raw, as any I remember at this time of year.
But so much the better for the maintenance of order.
There is no more serious damper for sedition than
bad weather. Up to the present time all has been
calm.

The most original feature in the decorations of the
file is a cascade, which has been constructed on the
Punt de la Concorde. A vast assemblage of artificial
rocks has been piled about the centre arch, towards
the Tuileries, and crowned by a group of marine
deities in plaster. The water, conveyed in gotta
paella pipes from the reservoirs of the fountains of
the Great Place, tumbles from the top of the centre
arch down the sham crags. All this, lit up with in-
genious combinations of lamps, will produce a good
effect.

The club of the Rue des Pyramidal declared, on
Friday night, on the motion of M. do Broglie, in
favour of the total revision of the constitution, and
of the adoption of the propositions of MM. Moulin
and Morin, the first of which proposes to refer the
motion on the revision to a special committee, and
the other to enable the motion, if rejected, to be
brought forward again after the expiration of a
month. The club wishes the special committee tube
appointed in the bureaux, and not iu the general
Assembly.

Audren de Kerlin:l has addressed a letter to the
Union, contradicting the favourable expressions at-
tributed to him in regard to the prorogation of the
President's powers. What he said was that the re-
public night possibly flicker on 150111 C time under the
government of Louis Napoleon, but that the renewal
of the President's powers would be a lean and un-
toward (chetifet untlencontreur) expedient.
The isolated position of M. Thiers in the old par-
liamentary majority, and his decided repugnance to
the fusion scheme, is evidently tending to push him
back into his old place of the centre mt ache. Con-
vinced that in the struggle between the republic and
monarchy, the republic will carry the day, M. Thiers
is, with prophetic instinct, looking out for a plunk to
land him safe front the wreck of old parties, and for
the moment he has nothing better to du than to play
into the hands of the socialists in order to stave off
the revision of the constitution. I have already in-
formed you that the debate on public assistance was
to begin on Monday, the 12th inst. It is HOW said
that M. Thiers wishes to adjourn the discussion of
the bill, because he does notwish to quarrel with the
socialists on one of their pet questions, after leaguing
with them to throw out the revision of the constitu-
tion. Another snot of M. Thiers is cited apropos of
his speech yesterday about the Western Railway.
M. Bucher, his friend, rallied him about the court he
paid to the socialists in adopting their doctrines, and
pronouncing in favour of construction by the state.
tilers replied, " My dear friend, I shall end as I
begun."
The great importance attached to M. Thiers's
speech upon the Western Railway induces me to
send you a more complete report than was contained
in my letter of yesterday. Ile began by declaring
that his opinion had always been, and was still, in
favour of execution by the state. This profession
was received with loud applause by the Left, while
murmurs were heard upon the other side of the
house. He believed that even in a financial point of
view executions by the state was preferable to that
of companies. (bivers movements.) But, waiving
the question of system, he would rest his arguments
upon u public interest of the first order. The coin-
mince had among its members some representatives
of the departments traversed by the line which they
advocated. To give a relish to their plan they held
out the bait, to all those who were interested in the
railway of Cherbourg, that in certain eventualities
the line of Rennes would become that of Cherbourg.
The department of the Manche had embraced this
idea with open arms. (The pun raised a general
laugh). Cherbourg was reconciled to the plan by
the adage that " a bird in the hand is worth two in
the bush." Well, let them have their road to Rennes,
but the Assembly should not engage the future. Why
not leave the question open? The difference of dis-
tance was 44 kilometres. But the interest of the
coast defence was an enormous one, and this was
only possible by the direct line. (Agitation.) The
greatest interest of France at present 'was the defence '
of her coast. No question had more seriously occu-
pied during the last ten years, all public men, than
the difficulty of securing this defence. The enormous
power which steam had given to navies exposed all
coasts to danger. There was no need for him to re-
mind them of the alarms which, during fifteen years
past, had attended the operations of great fleets upon
all coasts of the globe. Several committees had been
occupied with this subject; and they had concluded, I
as under the empire, that the most efficient defence
was through troops well placed at chosen points.
Napoleon had traced a system of defence indicating
two points, Rennes for Brittany, and St. Lo for
Lower Normandy. In all his instructions these two
camps were to be found, one at Rennes, for which
troops could be marched rapidly on St. Maio, Brest,
Lonent, Nantes, and the other at St. Lo (it had
always existed) commanding Cherbourg, Caen, Hon-
fleur, Havre, and Rouen. The true interest of coast
defence waa at present in the latter line. A railway

uniting Rouen, Evreux, HnuHenr, (taco, Cherbourg
would nisomplish this olijist. For such an achieve-
ment he m not stint t inn. nor minim's. If the line
wore placed anywhere but on the littoral the detbnee
was impossible. The stores of Cherbourg must be
fetched Irmo the Seine, 14 in what did the stores of
• a port consist hut provisions, metal, wood. (Sonic
one itaid "Coal.") In time of war, for which these
calculations were tnade, the departments which could
Spare corn were all omit tho direct line. Iron came'
from Lower Normandy mud the north. Coils came
by the Seine and from the North. (A member said,
"By the Loire.") The cuuls of le Iluute-Loire
would in time of war be absorbed by Marseilles and
'Nolan. The only coals that would be useful to
Cherbourg would come front Belgium and the French
low countries. In railways the advantages to inter-
mediate stations were very questionable; it was the
extreme points of the railway that derived the main
profits. Look at Orleans, and at the towns of
Alsace, how they are disappointed. Ile maintained
that the proposed line would be pernicious to exist-
ing interests, and cause the decay of the richest pro-
vinces of France, and those which contributed most
powerfully to her to If France went to war
with England, why the most exposed points of her
coast would be Havre and Cherbourg. Havre for
commerce, and Cherbourg for defence. Well, the
defence of those points was only possible by the
direct line. (I /enials front the committee and several
benches of the Assembly). The committee prided
itself on the bargain it had made in getting three
millions for grafting the Cherbourg line on that of
Rennes. This bargain was made to engage the
future. What he asked them was, to leave the
future free.

M. Gustave de Beaumont said that it was strangt!
that M. 'riders, being so deeply impressed with the
absolute nteessity of the direct line, had not de-
-1 mantled its immediate construction. The difference
in time between the two liras was about an hour;
and positively it was preposterous to exaggentte, as
M. Thiers had done, the strategicadvantages of gain-
ing an hour in the transport of troops, even if they
were always to be in a state of war with a great
maritime power. The strategic impairments of M.
Thiers certainly merited his respect ; and he remem-
bered a debate on the fortifieutimus of Paris in which
M. Thiers had proved, to the satisfitetion of the As-
sembly, that he enderstood a great deal trotter than
Marshal Sault what had taken place at the defents!
of Genoa, although the Marshal was present on the
spot. (Loud laughter.)
M. Caussin de Percival is mentioned as a candidate
fur the place of Councillor of State, favoured by the
Rue de Itivoli Club.

A fresh leave of absence of fifteen days Mot been
grunted by the committee of coups to M. de Falloux.
The Minister of Marine has stated to M. Simeon,
the representative of Toulon, that a resolution had
passed the Council of Ministers for the return of the
French fleet to the Mediterranean. It is to weigh
anchor from lirest on the sth May.
Yesterday took place in the Mikis Royal the dis-
tribution of the prizes awarded to painting and
sculpture. The President was not present. M.
Leon Faucher presided in his place.