The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-28 00:00:00

(forto

493.] LONDON, TUESDAY, MAR. 28, 1848. [THREEPENG

to you in heaven, to repeat in your ear that strain which
this moment has issued from your souls,—

Mount. pour In pstrio
C'est le sort le plus beau, le plus dim d'eurie.
Yee 'ls the most brilliant lot, bemuse, to die for one's
eoundy, is to die for one's duty ; and to die for one's duty is
to die as Christ, expiring to save his brethren.—" Vire la

Liberte."
In driving through the suburbs and round the en-
virons of Paris, I encountered, in various places, bands
of operatives at work on the roads and their embank-
ments. This troop is attended by a captain, and has
a tricoloured flag planted at its station. In many cases
it is difficult to conjecture what useful purpose thework
thus performed is intended to sabaerve to. Thus we
find thelevel walks on the Cham Elysees picked up and
loosened to-day, to be trodden down by promenaders to-
morrow. Such embankments are in some places
levelled, the earth taken away being used to
raise them in other places; but why or wherefore the
one level should be lowered, or the other raised,
would effectually puzzle a Stephenson or a Locke to
guess. In a drive of about three hours yesterday, I
witnessed several thousand of able-bodied men thus

mysteriously occupied.
But the great spectacle of this kind is presented in
the Champ-de-Mars. This immense area literally
swarms with operatives. Placed at its extremity,
and having the use of a small telescope, you can
count them by thousands; without it, their vast
number, the extent of the area over which they are
spread, impresses the eye with the effect of a general
blue colour, agitated however, with a slight movement.
Now, all these are national labourers, to whom the
Provisional Government pledges itself to give work.
They are, in general, paid 30 sous a day, 50 being ,
given to the sergeants, or controllers, and 5 francs to '
the superior officers.
When the government, from want of tools or othe c
cause, cannot give employment to applicants, or ,e
franc a day is allowed. Where all this is to end, so
one seems able to say; but it is certain that it m rot
terminate : and when it does, the thousands who will
be turned loose on Paris it is fearful to think of. 1
It was supposed that the revolution would, f if the'
moment at least, seriously damage the places of ...wit 1
amusement. With the exception, however, a-th,
Italian Opera, which is almost exclusively an pporteid
by the aristocracy and foreigners, this has not c neacca.
The theatres in general are as full as nay al. The 1
performers are called for nightly, before th a laats,ct,l,
to come forward and sing the " Maslen] site " To ,
this there is no exception, for at the Italian slain -sten-
torian lungs of lablache thunder forth ni ea.o
nry OLV 0
the verses of this celebrated hymn.
Mario and Roneoni cheerfully encore' a hing their
verses, but Grisi generally endeavours **hi& it at
first, although she complies. The and; dice, 0r,,,, cer-
tain portion of them, are usually pectin &ohms, axd the
curtain, after falling, risesagain, and fiirisi gratifies 1
the audience by the first verse of the aria,. 1
In the general aspect of Paris, the thing•that most
strikes the eye of the observer is the tow absence of
military and especially ofthemonicipi agaard,horeeand
foot, who formed so prominent a fe• armee in the Paris`
thoroughfares. The duty of all tb a guard_be„es, as,
well as of the 'theatres and publi c Oates •df amuse--
meat in general, is still perform.ad by the national
guard. Repeated attempts has -e been made by the
government to mingle with the r a tine regular troops,
hut this has been hitherto um e ,ccessful,,cs.cept at -a
few posts little frequented br : the populace.. The
popelace has raised its voice a ; ainetthoreturn of -the
military to Paris, and they no w reigr. supreme.
She pane buildings and el in rchee are all inscribed
in a conspieanns manner, W its. the words " Liberte,
Egalit, et Frateniite," exit the tri-edleured flag is
invariably hung frem the sus nnsit. Wherever -the
name of Loafs Philippe has bee a imseribed, as for ox-
ample, °lathe obelisk in•tte Place de la Concorde, it
lies beenatEaced, and the daove wenalesnlatituted for
it. His portraits and busts, whi eh hail been previrtly
placed in all public otfiies, mu: cams, and other seta-
lalishmente, have been remove& Theinsignia of the
charter; erected in-the theatres and over the doom of
.public atiablieweats, h avethesta alseasiben down.
One el the meet !strafing examples of the late
politiotti,.litastrephe is eft ibited in journalism. Net
only is •(ae circulation of all the eetiblished joyride
enormeurly inerewed, that of La Presse alone having
risen from 30,09) to nearly 80,000, +but a swarm
of stodiler jonnals base come into existenoe.
at. sort of spurieus race- of newspapers distributed
by haerkers in dill clan rterc of Paris, and sold usually,
fee one sou, the -I refit being twoliftheof a son, has ,
begun. The noun of these feville4 are sufficiently
significative of their 9utLty and character. Here
. are some specimens given from memory ; " L'Ang I
da People," "La Libert," "La Fraternite," "La
Republique," "La Peuple 'Constituent,' " L'Assem-i
la Nationale," "L a Vole dais Clubs; "La Voix dee
FPOInIO6," "Le Saint Public," "La Democratie. "•
" L'Atelier " "Le Journal des Ouvriers," " I,a
Libert lieligieuser Sac. These are distributed
in all the public pecenenadesiby thousands, 'free from
the control of any police. Oa the public ways the
venders-spread thee. out on the trottoirs, stick them
on thehands of their. hats, and hang them round their
persomn,by way of trovoking 'the appetite of pur-
chasers-; -they sometimes shout out the leading lines
of remarkable news, 'jest so mach as to tants/ice the
buyer sil.extract theasu.
Yesterday we heard a hawker, at the gate of the
Tuileries.atiling out, "The Gouvernement Provisoire
justifies 111.0nizot and 'M. Duchatel"
Mr. Smith O'Brien and Mr. Meagher have arrisad.
Further amounts have•heen received today of the
expedition which marched for Belgium, which state
that on the arrival of tie train at Talenciennee,
where the Preach engines are great:ly detached
from the traise, the Belgian engine an usual ap-
proached, and was attached to the train. The ,
train wag in the act of moving on, what ,the alarm
was given by seine one in ,the station that the
whole parts- was betrayed. About 100 immediately
jamped off the carriages; but the engineer, Shaving
had his 'instructions. Troceeded attire top of his.
across the frontiers, and did not step until he an his
cargo safely arrived at Quivrain, where they were
delivered into the hands of two regiments of Belgian
infantry, waiting to receive them, whe speedily des.
patched the patriots to lons, where they are now ,
bewailing their sad fate. The succeeding trains, of
which there were several, all stopped at 'Valenciennes,
where the persons terming the different detachments
remained on the French side of the frontier, to the
number of nearly 3,000, actually distributed in the
villages in the neighbourhood, writing for a favorable
opportunity to carry their project into execation.
There are a great cumber of rumours afloat ea to
the Frenchmen who joined in the expedition. Many
of them were armed, and some are said to belong to
the national guards. None of those who proved by
their papers that they were really Frenchmen, were
detained by the Belgian authorities.
I send you subjoined the manifesto of the Provi,-
sional Government on the grounds for the postpone-
ment of the elections, which I announced this morning.
Another fall took place at the Bourse to-day on
every description of security. The Threes fell from
441, at which they closed yesterday, to 40, closing at
41. The Fives fell from di to 60, closing at 601. Bank
Shares fell 125 fr., closing 1350. Railway Shares
were not quite so bad.
The chief cause of this continued and disastrous de-
cline in prices is of course the universal and profound
distrust of the government and its prospects, bat, in-
dependent of this, the postponement of the elections
and of the convocation of the assembly has had no
small share in the matter, besides which a great num-
ber of commercial men are compelled to become Pellets,
I no matter at what price, in order to meet their com-
mercial engagements.
The Provisior.al Government has postponed the elec-
tions for the National Assembly to the 23rd of April,
and the meeting of that body to the 4th of Mac. The
grounds for this postponement are fully stated in the
subjoined address of the provisional government to the
French people, published in the 3fondeur :
Citizens,—You have known, you have appreciated, the
motives which induced the Provisional Government to
delay until the sth of April the elections of the officers
ef the national guard. The necessary adjournment
will not allow the electiops for the representatives
of the people to commence until the 9th. Before fixing
definitively on the period for those elections, the Provi-
sional Government was anxious to consult the opinion of
the whole of France. The commissaries of the depart-
ments have been questioned, and their almost unani-
mous reply has been, that the convention of the people

should be deferred as little as passible. Numerous pe-
titions have expreesed to ns the most pressing wishes on
the subject. The same feeling prevails in an limonite
majority of the people of Paris. The Provisional 00-
vernment would consider itself p uilty, it it retained 411
its hands, wit the most imparters@ neetesity, the ex-
oeptional aea temporary power which that neeeseity it-
self has made legitimate, and the honour of which la our
devotedness to the republic. The Provisional Govern-
ment has, therefoie, in consequence of physical diffieul-
ties, decided to podipone the day of the general elections
to the 23rd April, and the meeting of the Assembly to the
4th May. It is for you eitisens, to complete the gene-
rous work which you have undertaken. The republic
is founded ; no intrigue, no senseless attempt, will
prevail against it. Tl..e people will it; it will know how'
to defend what is has so valiantly achieved. Let is organise
itself on wide bases ;i let the next constitution introduce into
the ientitutioas and rata the laws, the great principles of our
revolution ; let yte ee choice, citizens, prepare the reign of
liberty, of equality, and of fraturnity. Thanks to pour co-
operation, cilium A, the Provisional Government has up. to this
time been able
.0 support the burden of public affairs. It
does not wish
.t, it cannot delay
.for en hour the moment at
which it will •
lopeeit the power into the hands of the sove-
reign author fly, which is alone capable of responding te
the wishes r
France—which is alone strong enough to guide
the destini,
JI at the republic in those paths into which *e
magnaairc wes impulsion of the people hu led them. Lto
not, their ihma citizens, lose any tine in discusnae ideas und
men; let the Utter be, by their principles, their virtne,traeir
„'°v° of sometry, the true representatives of the people, and
".°*°P. 1 wMI ail the new assembly with the same enthuiasm
which . everywhere welcomes the revolution which ft.e peo7
pls " Ave made, and which the most powerfal of petpaitan-
."*"-, ,a—that which is inspired by admiration--ergendere.
~
•`",• Previsional Government, considering the decree
skew= to the Ath of April the eleeneus of the
seine eesiderlug the Informatics igivea by the
ounnteuries of the departments end the deliberation of the
stayers of the areondimensents of Paris, and that there
would be a physical impossibility to insintaketk• day at first
fixed for the general elections. "On the report of the
Minister of the Interior, decrees : Art. 1. The general else-
tittle of the representatives of the people shad take place on
&wady, 23rd April. Art. 2. The assembly shall meet on the
4th May next —Done in council by the government at
Paris, Use 28th March.
Signed by members of Provisional Government.
Matter* are rani far from being satisfactory at
Lyons. The government commissary, on coming oat
of the mairie, on the 24th, was stopped by some armed
men, who demanded that they shmld have entreated
to them thee-anemia of the barracks of the Bernardines,
and he saeeeeded in calming them only by promising
to write to Pais for instructions.
Amongother projects laid before the Provisional
Government, with the view of preventing, for the
future, the abuses of nepotism is regards the distri-
butioa of situations in the public administrations, and
to improve, as far as possible, the situation rot the
emploph, which is now so very precariotts, wetemark
the one containing the following disposit..nne,
1. The present number of clerks employed in public ad-
miristratione shall be eedueed one-third. This reduction is
retake place by degrees, as situations become vacant, either
in tonsurneuee of sappreeelOn •of an employtnent of dis-
union] for a legitimate motive, of public functionaries being
plaeed on retired pay, or of resignations.
2. liesperson can be iadenltted into a public administration
till after having passed a public examination, the programme
of whichehall be noldiehed six months beforehand.
3. The candidates admitted shall be subjectedio a super-
ernmenuyship of twoyears, at least.
4. limperson shell be admitted to thimexamination unless
te can produce his diplonta'of bachelor es &thee, as copy
clerk, and that of a licenciiAt law, saetlitor clerk.
u. Nespreferment will be Tuanted till after meecond ewe-
urination. the result of whielt'shall hi combined with the
notes furnished by the chiefs of the different services, relatire
to the oiriscity and work of the candidates.
-6. tlon-evoestion.cart be renounced by •the minister till
after having examined the iieFurationclready held and tee
-eo:ployi. having been hearti; by a family council, the mem-
bers of which shall be annually named by the esseloyis
themselves.
P.sue, 11.acn 21.—New ,LOCI, —; Three per Cents, 41;
Flees, ON.; Foor.anr.LEllf, SS • Viers, Belgian *lmo, NM,
, 54; dn. 1442, ; Do. Threes, —; Be. —;
' IA •ples Ranh., —. Semen Leas, 53. Treasury Bends, Xi.
• Bank Shane, 1,350. fachange on Loudest, no tranamtions.
litruir.mx—Paris and Orleans, 515; 'Paris mod Boom, 360 •
Rosen and If avre, 207 It ; Avignon and Banteiller, 235 • Strastiouri
sad arts, at; flentr Viers:nu 220; Amiens and liOaloque,
Bordeaux, lea 30; North. 323.