The Express.
London, England, 1853-05-28 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDAY EVENING.
The Moititeur of to-day contains the following
announcement:

" Intelligence from Constantinople up to the 19th
May has been received by the government. Prince
Menchikoff had not yet taken hit departure,
although his official correspondence with the Porte
had ceased, the Divan refusing to admit his proposi-
tions in the terms in which they had been couched.
The general opinion, however, was, that the means
of negotiation were not entirely closed."
The note in the ifoniteur on the Turkish question
was very favourably received at the Rowse to•day.
The disposition to believe that in some way or other
the mission of Prince Mensulnkoff will come to an end
without leading to war is so universal that any plaus-
ible suggestion of a probable peaceful solution is
readily accepted. Under the influence of this feeling
ready credence has been given to a statement in a
journal of very doubtful veracity, the Pubis, that a
new envoy would be sent to Constantinople to
replace Nlenschiltuff with instructions to renew
negotiations upon a fresh basis. This idea tallies
adikirably with a ;ot attributed to M.
Thiers, that the only reel difficulty in the business
was the difficulty for Russia to invent a mode of
making an honourable retreat. If the news be true
nothing will be more simple than for Russia, foiled
in her attempt to bully Turkey, to instruct a new
plenipotentiary to make such demands as she knows
beforehand will be accepted. The Assemble Na-
tionale, which may bo considered the Russian organ
of the Paris press, takes great pains to shew that
from the beginning Nicholas has never had the
slightest intention of provoking a collision with the
European powers. This journal avers that no poli-
tical man in Europe has any fear of seeing war
ensue from the mission of the Prince, and that there
is no information worthy of being relied upon
that the Russian envoy has ever laid before the
Divan a eaves bell. His attitude and threatening
language have often been talked of, but nobody says
in what the threats consisted, and they cannot be
very serious, it, according to an accredited version,'
Prince Mensehikoff was merely charged to declare'
that the Emperor Nicholas would see with regret
that the demands relative to the Protectorate of the
Greeks were not admitted by the Porte. The
Assemble, moreover, confirms the idea of the Patrie,
that Menschikoff's proceedings may be disavowed
It says " The Russian cabinet cannot, any more
than any other government under similar cir-
cumstances, be bound by the diplomatist by
whom it is represented beyond its original
intention and will." All this looks like prepara-
tion for a reculade in duo diplomatic form. The
general impression in the public mind was so favour-
able that the Bourse presented a marked contrast to
that of the last three or four days. From the be-
ginning to the end all was animation. Orders to'
buy came in to the parquet fast and thick, and the 'I
upward movement, in spite of occasional checks from
realizations of profits, went on steadily to the close.
The Three per Cent. Itentes maintained an advance
of nearly three-quarters per cent. upon yester-
day's closing prices. But while I write, and
while I hear the authorised hawkers that sell
the " Ceara Authentique " on the boulevards
proclaiming the " rise at the Bourse," I am
informed that after Bourse hours a panic took
place in the coulisse, under the influence of which the
Three per Cents. fell 70 centimes. The reason
assigned for this is a rumour that the Russian am-
bassador has gone to St. Cloud to-day to demand
explanations from the Emperor relative to a report
from London that M. Delacour had sent orders to
the French fleet to sail for the Dardanelles. It was
also said that the English funds were much lower
to-day.
The government has submitted to a defeat in the
matter of the bill for reviving the political guillotine.
The Council of State has accepted amendments pro
posed by the committee of the Cirps Legislatif,
which strike out of the bill all the clauses which affix
the punishment of death to offences that can with
any accuracy be termed political.